1/ 


;^ 


^n  ^ti^trrssi 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


New-York  Historical  Society, 


ON  ITS  SIXTIETH  ANNIVERSARY, 


•Tuesday  November  22,  1864. 


FREDERIC     DE    PEYSTER, 

PRESIDENT    OF    THE    SOCIETY. 


NEW-YORK: 
PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  SOCIETY. 


MDCCCLXV. 


^n  ^iv^trri^fii 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


New-York  Historical  Society, 


ON  ITS  SIXTIETH  ANNIVERSARY, 


Tuesday  November  22,  1864. 


FREDERIC     DE    PEYSTER, 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE    SOCIETY. 


NEW-YORK: 
PUBUSHED  FOR  THE  SOCIETY. 

MDCCCLXV. 


j^T"^ 


At  a  fpecial  meeting  of  the  New  York  Hiftorical  Society,  held  in 
its  Hall,  on  Tuefday  Evening,  November  22d,  1864,  to  celebrate  the 
Sixtieth  Anniverfary  of  the  founding  of  the  Society. 

"  The  Prefident  of  the  Society,  Frederic  de  Peyster,  dehvered  the 
Addrefs. 

"  On  its  conclufion,  Erastus  C.  Benedict,  with  fome  remarks,  fub- 
mitted  the  following  refolution  : 

"  Refolved^  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  be  prefented  to  its  Prefi- 
dent, Frederic  de  Peyster,  Efq.,  for  his  highly  intcrefting  and  valuable 
addrefs,  dehvered  before  the  Society  this  evening,  and  that  a  copy  be 
requefted  for  publication. 

"  The  refolution  was  seconded  by  the  Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.  D. 

and  George  Bancroft,  LL.  D.,  with  remarks  by  each,  and  adopted 

unanimoufly." 

Extraft  from  the  Minutes, 

ANDREW  WARNER, 

Recording  Secretary. 


JOHN-  F.  TROW, 
Printer.  Stereotyper,  and  Electrotyper, 

50  Greene  Street,  New  York. 


OFFICERS   OF   THE   SOCIETY 

ELECTED     JANUARY,      1 865. 


President, 
FREDERIC  DE  PEYSTER. 

First  Vice-President, 
THOMAS  DE  WITT,  D.D. 

Second  Vice-President, 
BENJAMIN  ROBERT  WINTHROP. 

Foreign  Corresponding  Secretary^ 
GEORGE  BANCROFT,  LL.D. 

Domestic  Corresponding  Secretary, 
JOHN  ROMEYN  BRODHEAD,  LL.D. 

Recording  Secretary, 
ANDREW  WARNER. 

Treasurer, 
BENJAMIN  H.  FIELD. 

Librarian, 
GEORGE  HENRY  MOORE. 


EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE, 


AUGUSTUS  SCHELL.  WILLIAM  CHAUNCEY. 

ERASTUS  C.  BENEDICT.         CHARLES  P.  KIRKLAND. 
BENJAMIN  W.  BONNEY.         GEORGE  FOLSOM. 
SAMUEL  OSGOOD,  D.  D.  ROBERT  L.  STUART. 

JOHN  WILLIAM  DRAPER,  LL.  D. 


m19(;;K51 


ANNIVERSARY    ADDRESS. 


E  are  aiTembled,  Fellow-members,  this 
evening,  to  celebrate  the  Sixtieth  Anni- 
verfary  of  The  New  York  Historical 
Society.  What  memorable  events  mark 
the  intervening  threefcore  years  in  the  Natural,  Civil, 
Literary,  and  Ecclefiaftical  Hiftory  of  our  State  and 
Country  ! 

The  preceding  half  century  witnefTed  the  fuccefs 
of  the  meafures  to  which  the  love  of  Liberty  earlier 
gave  birth,  in  the  achievement  of  our  National  Inde- 
pendence ;  and  that  which  fecured  to  the  American 
Republic  its  blefTings  and  fubftantial  good,  the  Con- 
ftitution,  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land. 

Among  the  founders  of  this  Society  were  fome 
of  the  illuflrious  men  who  took,  an  adive  part  in 
the   great   drama,   the  clofing  fcenes  of  which  threw 


a  ^he  Early  Political 

their  radiant  beams  upon  the  dawn  of  the  prefent 
century.  To  gather  up,  before  they  were  irrecover- 
ably loft,  the  memorials  of  the  recent  paft,  and  pre- 
ferve  them,  as  the  materials  of  hiftory  both  of  our 
State  and  Nation,  originated  the  plan  firft  difcufled 
for  the  formation  of  this  Inftitution  on  the  twentieth 
of  November,  1804,  and  finally  adopted  by  the  per- 
manent organization,  which  took  place  on  the  four- 
teenth of  January,  1805. 

It  is  with  a  view  to  carry  out  this  idea  of  the 
Founders  of  this  Society,  that  I  have  feleded  the 
fubjeft  upon  which  I  am  to  addrefs  you  this  even- 
ing. It  is  a  chapter  from  the  Civil  Hiftory  of  New 
York  in  its  Colonial  condition,  as  well  as  under  its 
State  organization.  It  was  my  original  intention  to 
have  treated  alfo  the  other  departments  embraced  in 
the  defign  of  this  aftbciation ;  and  I  had  accordingly 
prepared  papers  upon  the  Natural,  Literary,  and 
Ecclefiaftical  Hiftory  of  our  State  and  Country. 
But  time  will  not  permit  their  ufe  this  evening;  and 
I  ftiall  referve  them  for  fome  future  occafion. 

After  a  brief  allufion  to  my  predeceflbrs  in  office, 
and  particularly  to  the  venerated  man  whom  I  have 
the  honor  to  fucceed  in  the  Prefidency  of  this  So- 
ciety, I  fhall  pafs  at  once  to  the  confideration  of  the 
fubjed:  to  which  I  wifli  at  this  time  to  afk  your 
attention. 

During  the  paft  fixty  years,  ten  Prefidents  have 
preceded  me.  Many  of  the  members  prefent  may  not 
be  familiar  with  their  names  :  I  therefore  repeat  them. 
Egbert  Benson,  Gouverneur  Morris,  De  Witt 
Clinton,    David    Hosack,   James   Kent,    Morgan 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  3 

Lewis,  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  Peter  Augustus 
Jay,  Albert  Gallatin,  and  Luther  Bradish. 

The  greater  number  of  thefe  were  illuflrious  for 
their  virtues  and  intelledual  labors  ;  and  their  names 
are  among  the  treafured  memories  of  the  Nation. 
All  were  prominent  members  of  this  Society,  alike 
diftinguifhed  for  their  individual  worth  and  devotion 
to  the  public  good.  Had  time  permitted,  I  fhould 
have  prefented  a  brief  fketch  of  each  ;  for  to  nine  of 
thefe  eminent  men  I  was  perfonally  known,  and  had 
opportunities  of  gathering  many  cherifhed  recollec- 
tions of  their  public  and  private  life.  With  a  ma- 
jority of  the  Founders  of  the  Society,  and  its  earlieft 
members,  I  was  alfo  perfonally  acquainted ;  and  on 
looking  over  the  names  of  the  former,  as  recorded 
on  our  minutes,  I  find  that  not  one  of  thefe  fur- 
vives.  Thus  I  ftand,  as  it  were,  a  connefting  link 
between  thefe  departed  and  the  living  members  of 
this  Society. 

In  my  early  youth  I  accompanied  Mr.  Bradish, 
at  his  invitation,  on  an  excurfion  to  Quebec ;  on  our 
way  pafTmg  through  the  counties  of  Franklin  and  St. 
Lawrence,  to  vifit  lands  which  he  owned  in  both 
counties.  We  reached  Plattfburgh  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain  by  eafy  jftages,  and  from  thence  journeyed  to 
Ogdenfburgh  on  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  on  horfe- 
back,  through  almoft  an  entire  wildernefs. 

At  that  time  this  was  the  only  pradicable  mode 
of  accomplifhing  the  journey.  For  weeks  we  flept 
together,  during  the  frofty  nights  of  September,  look- 
ing through  the  chinks  of  the  logs  upon  the  ftars 
brightly  fhining  over  us.      From  Waddington,  a  little 


4  T^he  Early  Political 

below  Ogdenfburgh,  we  defcended  the  St.  Lawrence 
in  what  was  then  known  as  a  "  Durham  boat^^  with- 
out a  cabin  or  covering  to  Ihield  us  from  the  weather. 
We  refled  at  night  on  the  Canadian  fhore,  in  fuch 
quarters  as  could  be  made  mofl  available  to  pro- 
ted  us  from  the  feverity  of  the  climate.  The  jour- 
ney by  land  was  one  of  peculiar  hardfhip  to  Mr. 
Bradish,  from  the  circumftance  of  his  being  at  that 
time  but  an  indifferent  horfeman.  Beautiful  as  were 
the  fhores  of  this  pidurefque  river,  and  exciting  as 
were  the  fcenes  we  encountered  in  paffing  its  numer- 
ous rapids  and  in  plunging  through  its  foaming  cas- 
cades, still  the  defcent  at  that  feafon  fubjeded  us  to 
the  violent  blafls  and  changes  of  weather,  againft 
which  there  was  no  sufficient  mode  of  protedlion  on 
our  voyage  to  Montreal. 

I  allude  to  the  circumftances  of  this  journey  in 
order  to  bear  witnefs  to  his  uniform  urbanity  of 
manner  and  the  kindlinefs  of  his  difpofition,  which 
were  part  of  his  very  nature.  The  moft  annoying 
circumftances  neither  affed;ed  the  one  nor  difturbed 
the  other.  The  benevolence  of  his  heart,  his  good 
fenfe  and  found  judgment,  never  failed  to  have  their 
full  influence  upon  all  thofe  with  whom  he  came  in 
contadt,  and  to  mitigate  or  remove  all  oppofing 
difficulties. 

In  the  courfe  of  the  following  fummer,  I  accom- 
panied him  in  an  excurfion  through  the  States  of 
Pennfylvania  and  New  Jerfey,  with  fimilar  refults 
and  an  increafed  admiration  of  his  focial  and  intel- 
ledlual  qualities.  On  one  occafion  we  were  in  imme- 
diate peril  of  our  lives  ;   but   Mr.  Bradish  did  not 


Hiftory  of  New  York.  5 

lofe  his  felf-pofieflion,  and  by  his  prudent  caution 
facilitated  our  efcape.  There  were  many  occafions 
which  would  have  excufed  a  difplay  of  contrary  quali- 
ties ;  but  he  feemed  ever  to  ad  the  part  of  a  Chrif- 
tian  gentleman.  It  affords  me  peculiar  fatisfaftion  to 
bear  this  teftimony  to  the  charader  of  one  whom,  on 
a  former  occafion,  I  flated  was  like  Cato,  as  defcribed 
by  Sallust,  who  chofe  rather  to  be,  than  to  feem, 
good — "  ejfe^  quam  videri^  bonus  malebat^ 

So  full  was  the  teftimony  borne  to  his  character 
as  a  Scholar,  Statefman,  Legiflator,  and  Judge,  and 
of  his  confiilent  Chriftian  walk  during  his  long  and 
ufeful  life,  on  the  occafion  of  the  commemorative 
proceedings  in  this  hall  confequent  upon  his  deceafe, 
that  I  proceed  at  once  to  mention  a  fev/  additional 
circumftances,  illuftrative  of  the  clofing  events  of 
his  life,  which  came  under  my  obfervation,  or  which 
were  communicated  to  me  by  perfons  converfant  with 
them. 

A  few  months  before  his  death,  he  overtook  a 
mutual  friend  on  her  way  to  Grace  Church  (of  which 
they  were  both  members),  and  on  her  alluding  to  his 
pundual  attendance,  he  replied :  "  I  wifh  to  avail 
"  myfelf  of  the  opportunity  of  hearing  '  The  Decla- 
"  ration '  pronounced  to  the  truly  repentant  and  be- 
"lieving,  of  the  remiflion  of  fins  in  the  Saviour's 
"  name.  All  of  us  may  receive  benefit  from  its  repe- 
"tition."   ^ 

Before  Mr.  Bradish  left  the  city  for  his  ufual 
fummer  fojourn  in  the  country,  in  the  fpring  of  1863, 

'  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Morning  and  Evening  Service. 


6  "^he  Early  Political 

I  met  him  occafionally  about  the  hour  of  evening 
prayer,  coming  from  or  going  to  Trinity  Church. 
His  countenance  at  fuch  times  was  much  more  grave 
than  ufual,  and  he  took  no  notice  of  the  paffing 
crowd,  as  was  his  cuflom,  in  order  to  return  a  friendly 
falutation.  For  fome  time  previous  I  had  noticed 
fymptoms  of  his  failing  health,  and  felt  fully  per- 
fuaded  that  he  was  confcious  of  his  decreafing  hold 
on  life. 

In  my  boyhood,  I  had  noticed  in  the  church- 
yard of  that  venerable  Church  a  monumental  flab, 
near  the  tomb  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  on  which 
are  engraved  only  thefe  tenderly  expreffive  words, 
"  My  Mother,"  and  underneath  thefe  two  words, 
"  The  trumpet  JJiall  Joimd^  and  the  dead  Jliall  arife." 
What  availed  to  the  forrowing  heart  of  the  affli6ted 
mourner  (whofe  filial  piety  had  raifed  this  impreffive 
monument),  family  diftin6lion,  worldly  renown,  or 
focial  pofition  ?  Without  a  doubt  as  to  the  refurrec- 
tion  of  the  dead  at  the  laft  trump,  faith  in  Him 
in  whom  flie  did  believe,  made  this  afliirance  certain, 
that  the  beloved  being  whofe  remains  lay  there  en- 
tombed, would  then  arife  to  life  immortal,  "  an  angel 
in  heaven." 

The  firm  faith  which  the  feled:ion  of  this  text 
exhibited,  was  by  some  unaccountable  afl'ociation  in 
my  mind  connected  with  my  lamented  friend,  on  the 
occafions  to  which  I  have  jufl:  referred.  I  felt 
afliired  that  the  final  fummons  would  find  him 
"watching."  Before  leaving  the  city  for  his  accuf- 
tomed  abode  in  the  country,  he  called  to  fee  me 
at   my   houfe,    and   fpoke   with   deep    intereft   of  the 


Hijlory  of  New  Tork.  y 

propofed  "  Hiftorical  Mufeum "  in  the  Central 
Park,  in  the  completion  of  which  he  took  the  deep- 
eft  intereft  ;  and  he  propofed  to  unite  with  me,  on  his 
return,  in  the  profecution  of  every  practicable  mea- 
fure  to  infure  its  fuccefs.  This  was  our  laft  interview  ! 
It  was  with  a  faddened  heart  I  heard  of  his  death. 
It  was  the  rending  of  the  chain  which  had  for  fo 
many  years  united  me  to  him,  in  the  bond  of  friend- 
fhip  and  in  kindred  purfuits.  As  his  life  was  faft 
ebbing  away,  this  faithful  foldier  of  the  Crofs,  ready 
to  depart,  faid  to  a  fympathizing  friend  befide  him, 
^^  All  is  well^^  and  foon  after  clofed  his  eyes  in  death. 

"  To  others  Death  feems  dark  and  grim, 

But  not.  Thou  Life  of  life,  to  me  ; 
I  know  Thou  ne'er  forfakeft  him 

Whofe  heart  and  fplrit  reft  in  Thee. 
Oh !  who  would  fear  his  journey's  clofe, 
If  from  dark  woods  and  lurking  foes. 

He  then  find  fafety  and  releafe  ? 
Nay,  rather  with  a  joyful  heart 
From  this  dark  region  I  depart. 

To  Thy  eternal  light  and  peace."  * 

— Thus,  all  was  well  !  ^ 


'  "Lyra  Germanica,"  Defzler,  1692. 

"  Luther  Bradish,  LL.D.,  died  at  Newport,  R.  L,  on  Sunday, 
Auguft  30,  1863,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age.  He  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  in  1 8 1 7,  and  was  chofen  to  be  one  of  its  Vice-Prefi- 
dents  in  1845.  Upon  the  deceafe  of  Albert  Gallatin,  in  1849,  Mr. 
Bradish  was  elefted,  in  January,  1850,  Prefident  of  the  Society;  and 
was  annually  re-ele6led  to  the  fame  office,  the  duties  of  which  he  con- 
tinued to  difcharge  with  diftinguifhed  ability  until  his  death.  His  re- 
mains lie  buried  in  Greenwood  Cemetery. 


8  The  Early  Political 

I  now  proceed  to  the  confideration  of  the  princi- 
pal fubjed:  of  this  Addrefs — the  Early  Political  Hif- 
tory  of  New  York,  which  is  a  branch  of  the  Civil 
Hiftory  of  our  Country  and  State  ;  one  of  the  promi- 
nent objects  entrufted  to  the  foftering  care  of  the  So- 
ciety. It  requires  no  argument  to  enforce  its  impor- 
tance. The  materials  relative  to  this  fubjed:  have 
been  diligently  colleded  and  faithfully  preferved  in 
our  library  ;  and  the  attention  of  every  inquirer  on 
the  fubjed;  has  been  invited  to  examine  the  treafures 
which  have  been  here  gathered,  while  every  facility 
is  afforded  to  enable  him  to  derive  benefit  from  their 
contents. 

The  labors  of  the  Society  in  this  department  of 
knowledge  have  been  eminently  ufeful  ;  and  they  are 
known  throughout  the  State  and  the  Union  to  every 
one  v/ho  has  taken  an  intereft  in  the  hillory  of  his 
country. 

Without  attempting  even  to  allude  to  thofe  in- 
ftances  which  have  attraded  moft  attention,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  refer  to  the  earneft  efforts  of  the 
Society,  and  to  their  influence,  in  fecuring  the  favor- 
able action  of  the  Legiflature,  when  that  body  au- 
thorized the  examination  of  the  archives  of  France, 
Holland,  and  Great  Britain,  and  the  colledion  there- 
from of  materials  concerning  the  Hiftory  of  Colonial 
New  York.  And  when  an  Agent  was  required,  through 
whofe  judicious  and  intelligent  efforts  the  design  of 
the  Legiflature  fhould  be  carried  out,  or  an  Editor 
under  whofe  careful  fupervifion  and  fcholarly  illuf^ 
tration  thofe  papers  fhould  be  publifhed  to  the 
world,   two   of  our  number — John   Romeyn   Brod- 


Hiftory  of  New  Tork.  9 

HEAD,  Dodlor  of  Laws,  and  E.  B.  O'Callaghan, 
also  Dodlor  of  Laws — were  feledied  for  the  purpofe. 
How  faithfully  they  have  difcharged  their  refpedlive 
duties,  and  how  much  every  hiftorical  ftudent  is  in- 
debted to  their  arduous  and  well-dire6ted  labors,  I 
need  not  mention  in  your  prefence. 

The  Society  has  alfo  been  the  inftrument  for 
preferving  and  reftoring  to  the  State  Government, 
on  more  than  one  occafion,  important  portions  of 
its  long-loft  records.  The  Journals  of  the  General 
Aflembly  of  the  Province  from  1766  until  1776,  and 
that  of  the  Aflembly  of  the  State  for  the  firft  meet- 
ing of  the  Fourth  Seflion,  both  of  which  were  print- 
ed from  copies  which  were  found  only  in  the  Library 
of  the  Society,  are  notable  examples  of  its  ufeful- 
nefs  in  perfecting  the  archives  of  the  State. 

I  may  alfo  allude,  in  this  connexion,  to  the  great 
fuccefs  which  has  attended  the  labors  of  the  Librarian 
of  the  Society,  Mr.  Moore,  in  his  patient  and  long- 
continued  fearch  for  others  of  the  Journals  and 
Statutes  of  the  Colonial  Afl*embly,  fome  of  which 
had  been  mifllng  more  than  a  century — a  fuccefs  of 
which  the  importance  to  every  careful  ftudent  of 
American  Hiftory  will  be  appreciated  only  when  its 
extent  and  charadler  fliall  have  become  more  fully 
known. 

In  this  hafty  retrofpedl  of  a  fmall  portion  of  the 
Society's  labors  in  this  department,  I  may  alfo  juftly 
and  fatisfadorily  allude  to  the  individual  efforts  of 
its  members  in  the  great  caufe  of  hiftoric  literature. 
Without  difparaging  the  efforts  of  the  members  gen- 
erally,   in    their   untiring   eff*orts   and   their  generous 


10  'The  Early  Political 

liberality  to  promote  that  caufe,  and  to  fecure  for  this 
City  and  this  State  the  juft  degree  of  honor  which 
properly  belongs  to  each,  the  individual  labors  of  our 
aflbciates,  Moulton,  O'Callaghan,  Shea,  Wat- 
son, Paulding,  Valentine,  Davis,  De  Voe,  Los- 
sing,  FoLsoM,  Francis,  George  H.  and  Frank 
Moore,  Irving,  Verplanck,  Brodhead,  and  Ban- 
croft, may  be  referred  to  with  honeft  pride ;  while 
the  earneft  and  fucceffful  defence  of  the  peculiar 
claims  of  New  York,  and  of  her  well-merited  title 
to  the  honor  of  having  led  her  fifter  States  in  the 
great  ftruggle  for  "  the  rights  of  mankind,"  which 
has  been  made,  fucceffively,  in  your  meetings,  by 
Rev.  Doctor  De  Witt,  by  Charles  Fenno  Hoff- 
man, and  by  Henry  B.  Dawson,  is  frefh  in  the 
memory  of  all  who  have  taken  an  interefl  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  our  Society. 

The  Political  Hiftory  of  New  York,  as  I  have 
faid,  is  peculiarly  important.  You  well  know  that 
this  State  has  been  the  fcene  of  the  moft  violent  and 
uncompromifing  party  ftrife,  from  the  day  of  its 
feizure  by  the  Englifh,  in  1664,  until  the  prefent 
hour  ;  and  in  no  portion  of  our  country  have  the 
politics  of  the  day  affumed  greater  importance  in  the 
hiftory  of  our  times. 

.  In  the  earlier  days  of  the  Colony  the  ftruggle  was 
one  of  antagoniftic  races  ;  later  it  became  a  conteft 
for  political  power  between  leading  rival  families ; 
and  later  ftill  it  was  a  war  of  principles,  in  which  the 
unfranchifed,  unreprefented,  and  unhonored  maftes 
of  the  Colonifts,  led  by  a  few  able  and  daring  "  Sons 
of  Liberty,"  contended  with  the  Sovereign  and  with 


Hijiory  of  New  Tork.  1 1 

his  Minifters  and  with  thofe  who  fympathized  with 
them,  for  their  birthrights  as  Englifhmen  and  for 
their  political  manhood.  Thefe  were  followed  by  the 
organized  ftruggles  of  the  more  modern  political  par- 
ties, each  feeking  the  maftery  ;  and  Republicans  ^  and 
Federalifls,'-^  Clintonians  and  Bucktails,  Whigs  and 
Democrats,  and  thefe,  alfo,  "  native  here  and  to  the 
manor  born,"  Barnburners  and  Hunkers,  Silver- 
Greys  and  Woolly-Heads,  Loco-Focos,  Hard-Shells 


'  It  is  an  interefting  fa£t,  now  little  known,  that  the  Democratic  party, 
in  its  earlier  days,  was  thus  defignated  5  and  that  The  Tammany  Society, 
for  many  years  paft  To  influential  in  the  politics  of  the  State  and  Union, 
officially  recognized  that  title  as  the  name  of  Its  party. 

Thus,  in  1809,  when  that  body  determined  to  ereft  a  hall  for  its  ac- 
commodation— the  "  Tammany  Hall  "  of  to-day — -it  palTed  a  "  Law,"  fo 
called,  for  the  "  Building  of  a  Wigwam,"  of  which  the  following  is  the 
Preamble : 

"  Whereas,  feveral  members  of  the  Tammany  Society,  or  Columbian 
"  Order,  have  voluntarily  offered  to  fubfcrlbe  moneys  for  the  purchafe  of 
"  ground  and  the  eredlon  of  a  Wigwam  for  the  ufe  of  the  Inffltutlon  and 
"the  general  accommodation  of  Republicans,^^  Sec. —  The  Croakers  [Brad- 
ford Club  Edition),  155. 

''  The  great  political  parties  in  the  State  of  New  York  arofe  from  the 
confli6lIng  fentiments  concerning  the  extent  of  power  which  was  necelfary 
to  enable  the  Congrefs  of  the  United  States  to  difcharge  the  duties  to 
which  It  was  appointed ;  but  they  did  not  aflAune  diftlnft  organizations 
until  the  propofed  Conftltution  for  the  United  States  was  prefented  to  the 
State  for  Its  approval  and  ratification. 

The  opponents  of  the  Conftltution  called  themfelves  Federalijis ;  but 
the  friends  of  the  meafure  claiming  alfo  to  be  Federalifts,  the  former,  in 
contradlftinflion,  became  known  as  Ante-Federalijls — a  name  which  foon 
gave  way  to  that  of  Republicans ;  by  which  the  opponents  of  a  centrali- 
zation of  power  in  the  Federal  authorities  were  known  for  many  years. 

After  feveral  changes,  both  in  name  and  organization,  the  Federalijis 
gave  way  to  the  modern  Whigs ;  while  the  Republicans,  with  the  prefix  of 
Democratic — which  was  probably  affumed  to  diftinguifli  them  from  the 
National  Republicans,  one  of  the  offshoots  of  the  Federalijis — continue, 
with  various  modifications  in  its  platform,  the  oppofition  party  of  to-day. 


12  The  Early  Political 

and  Soft-Shells,  have  fucceffively  appeared  and  van- 
ifhed,  while  the  War  and  Peace  Democrats  and  the 
Union-men  and  Republicans  of  to-day,  in  their  turn, 
are  actively  performing  their  respediive  parts  in  the 
great  drama ;  affording  to  those  who  fhall  follow  us, 
either  an  empty  name — ^'^ genus  et  nomen  inutile'^ — or 
found  lefTons  of  political  wifdom  and  frefh  fubjedts 
for  the  pen  and  the  pencil. 

During  the  firft  of  thefe  periods,  from  the  very 
nature  of  things,  the  Englifh  and  thofe  who  came 
with  them  into  the  Colony  were  confidered  intruders 
and  enemies  by  the  Dutch,  and  by  the  great  number 
of  thofe  who  were  within  the  Colony  at  the  time  of 
the  furrender. 

The  firft  of  thefe  parties  was  a  conqueror,  fluftied 
with  a  bloodlefs  victory ;  haughty  and  overbearing 
in  his  intercourfe  with  the  Colonifts,  and  extremely 
impatient  of  the  leaft  oppofition  ;  the  laft  were  a 
conquered  people,  chafing  under  the  political  and 
commercial  difabilities  which  had  been  unjuftly  and 
illegally  impofed  upon  them,  and  watchful  of  every 
opportunity  to  oppofe  the  ruling  party.  The  one 
was  the  Government^  claiming  and  exercifing  every 
political  power,  and,  as  the  reprefentative  of  the 
Sovereign,  difregarding  every  pretenfion  of  the  in- 
habitants to  any  political  rights  whatever ;  the  other 
was  the  Governed^  claiming,  in  vain,  all  the  rights  of 
manhood  and  all  the  focial,  political,  and  commercial 
privileges  which  had  been  guaranteed  by  the  ruling 
party,  in  the  ^^  Articles  of  Surrender y 

Deprived  of  the  greater  number  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  which  they  had  enjoyed  before  the  furren- 


Hijlory  of  New  York.  13 

der  of  the  Colony  to  the  Englifh;^  denied  the  en- 
joyment of  any  of  the  rights  of  Englifhmen,^  of 
which  they  had  heard  fo  much ;  and  with  the  fole 
right  of  Government  vefted,  without  control,  in  their 
opponents;^  the  mafs  of  the  Dutch  and  their  fup- 
porters  were  compelled  either  to  fubmit  to  their 
focial,  commercial,  and  political  degradation  in  filence^ 
or  to  refift  the  power  which  opprelTed  them.  The 
former  of  thefe  they  could  not  do  ;  and  they  imme- 
diately united  in  a  refpedful  but  refolute  oppofition 

'  Liberty  of  confcience  was  "  alloTved "  to  a  limited  extent  only. 
( Conditions  for  Nei.v  Planters  in  the  Territories  of  H.  R.  H.  the  Duke  of 
Tork.)  Their  commerce  was  confined  to  England,  contrary  to  the  fixth 
Article  of  Capitulation,  which  guaranteed  free  commerce  with  Holland. 
[Orders  in  Council,  No-uember  i8,  i66S.)  Many  other  inftances  occur,  in 
which  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony  were  deprived  of  their  political  rights 
by  their  conqueror. 

-  Principal  among  thefe  rights  was  that  of  reprefentation  before  the 
impofition  of  taxes  ;  yet  taxes  were  levied  in  New  York  by  warrants  iffued 
annually  by  the  Governor  and  his  Council  on  aifeffments  which  had  been 
made  by  the  conftables  and  overfeers  of  the  feveral  towns,  all  of  whom 
were  refponsible  only  to  the  Governor  who  appointed  them,  and  not,  in 
the  remoteft  degree,  to  the  Colonilts  among  whom  they  exercifed  au- 
thority. [Duke's  La-ivs,  title,  "Public  Charges")  The  right  to  levy  im- 
pofts,  also,  was  exercifed  under  fpecial  orders  from  the  Duke,  without 
reference  to  the  Colonifts.  [Reply  to  Peticons  of  num^s  of  yr  Ma^'^e^  Cuf- 
toms;  Inliruccons  for  Edmo  Andros,  Efq.,  my  U  Go'vernr  of  Long  IJland, 
&c.,  July  I,  1674;  Duke  of  Tork  to  Go-uernor  Andros,  "January  28,  1676  ; 
The  fame  to  the  fame.  May  7,  1677,  £fr.) 

^  The  Code  of  Laws  by  which  the  Colony  was  governed  was  "  eftab- 
lifhed  by  the  authority  of  His  Majefty's  Letters  Patent,  granted  by  His 
Royal  Highnefs  James,  Duke  of  York  and  Albany,"  and  publifhed  "by 
virtue  of  a  CommilTion  "  from  that  Prince,  without  the  recognition  on  his 
part  of  any  rights  of  legidation  either  in  the  Colonifts  or  any  other  body 
whatever  [Duke''s  Lanvs,  Title)  ;  while  even  the  local  authority  of  the 
"  Court  of  Affizes  "  extended  only  to  the  privilege  of  recommending  mea- 
fures  to  the  Duke  for  his  enaStment,  "  without  whose  approbation  they 
acquired  but  little  authority."  [Chalmers,  574.) 
2 


14  T^he  Early  Political 

to  the  Governor,  in  his  earlieft  attempt  to  fecure 
their  allegiance,  without  recognizing  their  guaranteed 
rights ;  and  as  fteadily  and  refolutely  they  continued 
their  oppofition,  and  refufed  to  acknowledge  their 
allegiance  to  their  conqueror,  until  they  had  com- 
pelled him  to  honor  the  Articles  of  Surrender,  and 
to  recognize  and  fecure  to  them,  as  thofe  Articles  had 
recognized  and  fecured,  the  more  important  of  their 
focial  and  political  privileges.'^ 

Stuyvesant  and  Van  Cortlandt,  and  De  Pey- 
STER  and  Steenwyck,  and  their  alTociates,  in  their 
early  and  protra6ted  resiftance  to  arbitrary  power  in 
the  Colony — a  resiftance  which  was  carried  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  Colony  and  forced  itfelf  into  notice 
within  the  immediate  habitations  of  Royalty  itfelf — 
are  entitled  to  the  higheft  refped  of  every  friend  of 
republican  principles  of  government;  and  the  So- 
ciety will  not  fail  to  recognize  in  thefe  the  names  of 
the  earlieft  and  moft  refolute  opponents  of  the  Crown 
in  New  York. 

In  the  fecond  era  of  her  Political  Hiftory,  New 
York  prefented  a  fpectacle  which  is  not  lefs  intereft- 
ing  than  that  to  which  I  have  already  referred. 

The  two  races,  Dutch  and  Englifti,  by  intermar- 
riages and  the  lapfe  of  time,  having  gradually  loft 
their  diftinftive  features  and  their  early  antagonifm, 
the  former,  during  the  fecond  era  in  the  Political 
Hiftory  of  New  York,  was  chiefly  known,  as  a  clafs, 


'  Minutes  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Fri- 
day, October  15,  Tuefday,  06lober  19,  and  Wednefday,  Oftober  20, 
1664,  cited  at  length  in  Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  &c.,  14-16. 


Hiftory  of  New  Tork.  15 

by  its  fteady  fympathy  with  the  maffes  ;  and  it  con- 
fequently  became,  in  many  inftances,  the  nucleus 
around  which  were  concentrated  the  unorganized  and 
fcattered  elements  of  oppofition  to  the  Government, 
when  the  Sovereign,  his  Miniftry,  or  the  local  Pro- 
vincial authorities,  ventured  to  infringe  more  boldly 
than  ufual  on  the  fundamental  political  rights  of  the 
Colonifts. 

As  inftances  of  this  fympathy  with  the  popular 
caufe,  which  was  fhown  by  the  great  body  of  the 
Dutch  in  New  York,  and  of  the  fteadinefs  with  which 
the  oppoiition  among  the  EnglilTi  coalefced  with  the 
former,  reference  may  be  made  to  the  well-known 
troubles  of  which  Captain  Jacob  Leisler  and  John 
Peter  Zenger  were,  refpedively,  the  more  promi- 
nent parties — troubles  which  are  well  known,  in  their 
general  features,  to  every  careful  ftudent  of  the 
hiftory  of  New  York. 

In  the  former  of  thefe,  as  will  be  remembered,  in 
1689,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  Nicholson,  was  de- 
prived of  his  authority  by  the  outraged  Colonifts, 
headed  by  Captain  Abraham  de  Peyster,  Lieuten- 
ant Hendrick  Cuyler,  Johannes  de  Peyster,  Jan 
Van  Gelder,  Doctor  Hans  Kiersted,  Isaac  de 
Reimer,  Joost  Stoll,  Gerritt  Duyckinck,  Peter 
DE  La  Noy,  Johannes  Vermilje,  Doctors  Samuel 
Staats  and  George  Beekman,  John  Cowenhoven, 
and  Hendrick  Jansen — the  nationality  of  all  of 
whom  will  be  readily  diftinguiftied  by  their  names — 
and  the  fupreme  authority  within  the  Colony  was 
conferred  by  the  provifional  "  Committee  of  Safety," 
which  had  been  organized  and  recognized  by  the  great 


1 6  T^he  Early  Political 

body  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  and  its  vicinity, 
on  Captain  Jacob  Leisler,  a  well-known  and  in- 
fluential inhabitant  of  New  Amfterdam  in  former 
days,  but  at  the  time  of  which  we  fpeak  a  wealthy 
merchant  of  New  York.^ 

Of  this  protomartyr  of  American  Independence 
the  world  knows  too  little ;  for  to  his  earneft  and 
honeft  fervices  in  opposition  to  monarchical  ufurpa- 
tion  and  minifterial  violations  of  the  political  rights 
of  the  subjed,  even  the  pens  of  republican  hiftorians 
have  been  too  tardy  in  rendering  appropriate  and 
fuflicient  honor. 

Of  his  origin  and  early  life  we  know  nothing 
beyond  the  fa6t  that  he  was  a  native  of  Frankfort  in 
Germany;^  and  the  earlieft  notice  of  him  which  the 
annals  of  the  Colony  have  preferved,  indicate  that  he 
was  a  profperous  merchant  in  this  city,  while  it  was 
yet  a  dependency  of  the  Dutch. ^  On  the  eighteenth 
of  March,  1663,  he  was  married,  in  the  ancient 
Dutch  Church  in  this  city,  to  Elsje  Tymens,  the 
widow  of  Peter  Cornelison  Vanderveen;*  and 
feven  children — Susanna,  Catharina,  Jacob,  Mary, 

*  Abftraft  from  Journal  kept  by  Colonel  Nicholas  Bayard,  fince 
June  II,  1689  (A^.  Y.  Colo.  Docs.,  iii.,  599)5  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt 
to  Governor  Andros,  N.  Y.,  1689,  July  9;  A  Modeft  and  Impartial 
Narrative  of  Several  Grievances  and  Great  OpprefTions,  &c. ;  Jacob 
Leisler,  and  others,  to  the  King,  June  23,  1690. 

^  "Introductory"  to  Vol.  II.  of  T/ie  Documentary  Hijiory ;  Marriage 
Regifter  of  the  Collegiate  R.  D.  Church  in  New  York. 

^  Remonftrance  of  the  People  of  New  Netherland  to  the  Dire(Slor- 
General  and  Council,  September  5,  1664;  Minutes  of  the  Council  of 
the  Adminiftrations  of  Commanders  Evertsen  and  Bencker,  February 
I,  1674. 

*  Marriage  Regifter  of  the  Collegiate  R.  D.  Church  in  New  York. 


Hiftory  of  New  Tork,  17 

Johannes,  Hester,  and   Francina — were  the  fruits 
of  this  marriage/ 

His  influence  was  fo  great  among  the  merchants 
of  this  city,  that,  in  1674,  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  Commiffioners  (Captain  Martin  Kregier  and 
Francis  Rombouts  being  his  affociates)  to  provide 
means  for  the  defence  of  the  city  ;  '^  and  in  the  affefT- 
ment  of  the  property  of  "  the  befl:  and  moft  affluent 
"  inhabitants  of  this  city,"  in  February  of  that  year, 
Jacob  Leisler  and  Johannes  de  Peyster,  pofleffing 
equal  amounts  of  property,  were  the  feventh  and 
eighth  on  the  lift — Frederic  Philipsen,  Cornelis 
Steenwyck,  Nicolaes  de  Meyer,  Olof  Stevense 
Van  Cortlandt,  Jeronimus  Ebbingh,  and  Corne- 
lis Van  Kuyven  alone  exceeding  them  in  the  extent 
of  their  property  ;-'^  while  the  Bayards,  the  Min- 
viELLEs,  the  Kiersteeds,  the  Van  Brughes,  the  De 
FoREESTs,  the  Van  de  Waters,  the  Van  der  Spie- 
gels,  the  Krigiers,  the  Beekmans,  and,  with  one 
exception,  the  Van  Cortlandts,  were  far  below 
them  on  the  property  lifts  of  the  day. 

As  Mr.  Leisler  had  been  one  of  thofe  who,  in 
Oftober,  1664,  had  refolutely  refufed  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  of 
obedience  to  his  authority,  until  it  was  exprefled  in 
fuch  oath  that  fuch  allegiance  and  fuch  obedience 
were  to  be  made  "conformable  to  the  Articles  con- 


1  Regifter  of  Baptifms  in  Collegiate  R.  D.  Church  in  New  York. 

"^  Minutes  of  the  Council  of  the  Adminiftrations  of  Commanders 
EvERTSEN  and  Bencker,  February  i,  1674. 

»  Affeffment  Lifts  in  Minutes  of  the  Council,  &c.,  February  19, 
1674. 


1 8  "^he  Early  Political 

eluded  at  the  Surrender  of  this  place,"  ^  it  is  very- 
evident  that  even  at  that  early  day  he  was  duly  fenfi- 
ble  of  the  political  rights  of  the  Colonifts,  as  well  as 
of  the  means  which  were  neceflary  to  protedl  them 
againft  the  contingent  aggreffions  of  the  Government. 
Let  it  not  be  fuppofed,  therefore,  that  he  was  a  dif- 
interefted  fpedator,  when,  in  violation  of  the  Articles 
of  Surrender,  the  trade  of  the  Colony  with  Holland 
was  cut  off  by  the  Government ;  ^  when  the  outrages 
of  William  Dyer,  the  Duke  of  York's  Colledor 
of  Cuftoms  in  this  city,  led  to  his  feizure  by  the 
merchants,  and  his  depofition  from  office  by  their 
authority  ;  ^  when  the  Duke's  Receiver-General  failed 
to  obtain  any  revenue,  and  was  prevented  from 
enforcing  the  laws  even  before  the  Courts  of  the 
Colony.^ 

It  is  true,  he  took  no  public  part  in  the  revo- 
lutionary meafures  of  that  early  period ;  but  it  is 
incredible  that,  when  the  mafs  of  the  Colonifts,  a 
few  years  later,  confidered  the  Colony  and  all  that  it 
contained  were  in  extreme  danger,  they  ftiould  have 
looked  for  protection  to  one  who  had  taken  no  inter- 


'  Minutes  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Octo- 
ber 14th,  19th,  and  20th,  1664,  cited  in  Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  14-16. 
Lift  of  Names  of  the  Dutch  who  Swore  Allegiance  after  the  Surrender  of 
New  York,  in  Colonial  Documents,  iii.,  76. 

'^  Orders  in  Council,  November  18,  1668. 

^  "  The  Bill  found  againft  Captain  Wm.  Dyre,"  and  "  The  Pro- 
ceedings againft  Mr.  Dyer,  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York;"  Let- 
ter from  the  Court  of  Aftizes  at  New  York  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
1 68 1.     Mr.  Wm.  Dyer's  Petition  to  the  King. 

*  Letter  of  Captain  Brockholes  to  Governor  Andros,  September  17, 


Hijlory  of  New  Tork.  19 

eft  whatever  in  their  welfare,  who  had  not  in  fome 
way  identified  himfelf  with  them  in  their  oppofition 
to  the  Government.  Rather  let  it  be  fuppofed  that, 
when  the  popular  cry  was  raifed,  '■^  Tot  Leijler  I  tot 
^^ LeiJJer !  tot  het  huys  von  Leijler!''''  and  his  leader- 
jfhip  was  demanded  by  the  excited  and  terror-ftricken 
inhabitants  of  the  city  to  oppofe  the  expeded  on- 
flaught  of  the  banifhed  Royalifts  and  their  allies,^ 
recourfe  was  had  to  that  authority  which  had  been 
well  tried,  and  which  was  confidered  moft  competent, 
moft  truftworthy,  and  moft  certain  of  fuccefs. 

During  the  entire  period  of  the  adminiftrations 
of  Governors  Nicolls,  Lovelace,  Andros,  and 
DoNGAN,  as  is  well  known,  the  Colonifts  were  fub- 
je6led  to  continued  outrages — during  the  term  of 
fervice  of  Governor  Dongan  efpecially,  as  was  ad- 
mitted by  one  of  his  moft  intimate  friends,  "  Severall 
"Irregularities  had  been  committed" — and  the  caufe 
for  complaint  was  not  diminifhed  when  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Nicholson  aftumed  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment within  the  Colony.  It  need  not  be  wondered 
at,  therefore,  that  the  great  body  of  the  Colonifts  in 
New  York  were  fteadily  oppofed  to  the  Government ; 
and  efpecially  that  the  Dutch  therein  were  ready,  at  a 
moment's  notice,  to  effect  a  change. 

In  the  fpring  of  1689,  when  intelligence  reached 
New  York  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  landed  in 


'  C.  F.  Hoffman's  Adminiltration  of  Jacob  Leisler  (Sparks's 
American  Biography,  Second  Series,  iii.,  197). 

-  Lieutenant-Governor  Leisler  to  the  King,  January  7,  1690.  The 
fame  to  Major  Gold,  1689,  the  2d  June,  in  New  Yorke ;  Dunlap's  New 
York,  i.,  153. 


20  The  Early  Political 

England,  that  James  had  abandoned  his  throne,  and 
that  the  Prince — one  of  their  own  countrymen,  and 
a  Protectant — had  afTumed  the  regal  authority,  the 
great  body  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  and  vicin- 
ity arofe  in  its  might  and  drove  the  Jacobites  from 
power  ;  ^  feizing  the  fort  and  garrifoning  it ;  -  feizing 
the  Governor's  defpatches,^  and  compelling  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Nicholson  and  his  handful  of  adhe- 
rents to  feek  fafety  in  flight/ 

While  this  fcene  was  being  performed  within  the 
city,  rumors  were  fet  afloat  that  the  French  were 
approaching  by  water  to  attack  it  from  without ;  and 
the  inhabitants,  raifed  to  the  highefl:  excitement  by 
their  internal  political  troubles,  were  led  to  fuppofe 
that  external  enemies — co-religionifl:s  and  poflibly 
allies  of  the  Jacobites — were  approaching  to  complete 
their  deftruction.^  They  appear  to  have  underftood 
their  danger;  and  they  underfl:ood  also,  it  appears, 
unto  whom  they  could  look  for  fympathy,  for  coun- 
fel,  and  for  leaderfhip, 

Stephen  Van  Cortlandt,  one  of  the  leaders 
of   the  Jacobites,   faid    "  the    people   mett   at   Jacob 


'  Council  of  New  York  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewfbury,  1689,  June  10; 
Modeft  and  Impartial  Narrative  of  Several  Grievances,  &c. 

"^  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt  to  Governor  Andros,  N.  Yorke,  1689, 
July  9;  Colonel  Bayard's  Narrative  of  Occurrences,  &c. ;  Council  of 
Nevsr  York  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  New  York,  1689,  June  10. 

*  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt  to  Governor  Andros,  N.  Yorke,  1689, 
July  9  ;  Colonel  Bayard's  Narrative  of  Occurrences,  &c. ;  Certificate  of 
Fredryck  Flypsen  and  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt,  December  13,  1689. 

"  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt  to  Governor  Andros,  N.  Yorke,  1689, 
July  9  ;  Abltraft  of  Colonel  Bayard's  Journal. 

'  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt  to  Governor  Andros,  N.  Yorke,  1689, 
July  9 ;  Smith's  Hiftory  of  New  York,  i.,  81. 


Hijlory  of  New  Tork.  ii 

"  Luyslaer's  door;"  and  thither  he  and  Frederic 
Philipsen  proceeded,  "and  endeavoured  to  allay 
"  them,  but  in  vain."  They  would  hear  no  words 
of  peace  from  thofe  of  their  own  country  who  had 
proved  recreant  to  the  rights  and  the  honor  of  the 
great  body  of  the  Coloniils.^ 

At  the  requeft  of  the  inhabitants  thus  affembled 
before  his  own  door.  Captain  Leisler  affumed  the 
command  of  the  fort ; "  and  under  the  direftion  of  a 
"  Committee  of  Safety,"  compofed  of  two  delegates 
from  each  of  the  fettlements  of  Brooklyn,  Flatbufh, 
Flufhing,  Newtown,  Staten  I  (land,  Effex  in  New 
Jerfey,  Efopus,  and  Weftchefter,  and  the  fame  num- 
ber from  this  city,  he  adminiftered  the  government 
of  the  Colony  until  March,  1691,  when  Colonel 
Sloughter  arrived  in  New  York,  and  entered  on 
his  duties  as  Governor.^ 

Of  the  fidelity  with  which  Captain  Leisler  dif- 
charged  the  duties  to  which  he  had  been  called,  or 
the  undeviating  loyalty  with  which  he  promoted  the 
honor  and  the  interefls  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  I 
need  not  fpeak ;  nor  will  time  permit  me  to  relate 
the  remarkable  combination  of  adverfe  elements,  in 
many  cafes  in  oppofition  to  each  other  in  times  paft, 
which  fubfequently  led  to  his  arreft  and  execution  on 

'  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt  to  Governor  Andros,  N.  Yorke,  1689, 
July  9. 

^  Fredryck  Flypsen  and  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt  to  Secretary 
Blathwayt,  Auguft  5,  1689;  Commifllon  from  the  Committee  of 
Safety,  June  8,  1689. 

'  Commiffion  from  the  Committee  of  Safety  to  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  Auguft  16,  1689;  Memorial  of  what  has  occurred  in  Their 
Ma'i<^8  Province  of  New  York. 


22  1'he  Early  Political 

charges  of  treafon  to  the  Sovereign  whom  he  had 
ferved  with  fo  much  devotion,  to  the  confifcation  of 
his  eftates,  to  the  fubfequent  reverfal  of  his  attainder 
by  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  or  to  the  ulti- 
mate effed  of  his  death  on  the  popular  caufe  in 
America. 

Suffice  it  to  fay,  that,  after  fentence  had  been  pro- 
nounced on  him,  the  united  prayer  of  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  perfons  was  prefented  in  writing  to 
the  Governor,  by  a  Minifter  of  the  Gofpel,  urging  a 
flay  of  his  execution  and  his  removal  to  England 
"  to  be  judged  by  their  Majefties  "  ^ — an  appeal 
which  weighed  as  nothing  againft  the  fecretly-exercifed 
influence  of  the  Bayards,  the  De  Lanceys,  the  Van 
CoRTLANDTS,  the  LiviNGSTONS,  the  Philipses,  and  a 
few  others  whofe  dignity  had  been  oiFended ;  ^  while 
the  honefl;  pafl:or  who  had  prefented  the  petition  was 
ruthleffly  caft  into  prifon,  and  '*  accufed  of  being  a 
rebel,"  for  the  patriotic  part  which  he  had  taken  in 
the  matter. 

The  fubfequent  reverfal  of  his  fentence  by  the 
higheft  authority  in  the  kingdom;"  the  reftoration  of 
his  efliates   to    his   defolate    family ;    the  diiinterment 


'  Memoir  and  Relation  of  what  occurred  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
by  William  Van  Breen,  Joh  :  Provoost,  and  others,  Oftober  15, 
1691. 

*  Memorial  of  Chief-Juftice  Attwood,  06lober  26,  1709;  Minutes 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  in  the  cafe  of  Robert  Livingston,  06lober  i, 
1695;  Earl  of  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  June  22,  1698;  Com- 
mander-in-Chief and  Council  to  Committee  of  Trade,  July  29,  1691  ; 
Addrefs  of  the  Merchants  of  New  York,  May  19,  1690. 

'  Order  in  Council  in  cafe  of  Leisler  and  Milbourne,  March  11, 
1691  ;  Earl  of  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  May  15,  1699. 


Hijiory  of  New  Tork.  23 

of  his  mutilated  body  from  the  hole  at  the  foot  of 
the  gallows,  into  which  it  had  been  ignominiouily  caft 
more  than  feven  years  before;^  its  reinterment  with 
military  honors  in  the  burial-ground  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  during  a  terrific  ftorm,  and  yet  amidft 
the  forrows  of  more  than  fifteen  hundred  fympathi- 
zing  fpeftators  ;  -  the  fubfequent  tefl-vote,  eight  years 
after  his  death,  when,  of  the  "  freeholders  and  free- 
**  men "  of  this  city,  four  hundred  and  fifty-five 
declared  themfelves  Leiflerians,  while  one  hundred 
and  feventy-feven  were  all  who  would  avow  their 
oppofition  to  his  fentiments;^  the  fleady  progrefs  of 
the  popular  power  and  the  undeviating  fidelity  of  the 
populace  itfelf,  within  this  city  and  neighborhood,  to 
the  great  principles  of  republican  government,  while 
all  elfe  was  confervative  or  monarchical, — all  thefe 
bear  witnefs  to  the  integrity  of  Captain  Leisler  as 
a  man,  to  his  loyalty  as  a  fubjed:,  to  his  purity  as  a 
patriot. 

Concerning  this  interefling  and  important  portion 
of  the  Early  Political  Hiftory  of  New  York,  as  fuch, 
little  has  been  written,  although  much  has  been  col- 
lected ;  and  it  is  fincerely  hoped  that,  at  an  early  day, 
it  will  receive  that  careful  attention  from  the  patient 
and  critical  labors  of  fome  one  or  more  of  our  afTo- 
ciates  which  its  importance  demands. 

Still  nearer  our  own  times,  when  the  conflid:  be- 
tween the  Morrises  and  the  De  Lanceys  was  at  its 

'  Earl  of  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  06lober  21,  1698  ;  Heads 
of  Accufation  againft  the  Earl  of  Bellomont,  March  11,  1700. 
=  Ibid. 
'  Earl  of  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  April  27,  1699. 


24  1'^^  Early  Political 

height,  the  rallying  point  of  the  mafles  of  the  oppo- 
iition  was  the  venerable  Rip  Van  Dam,  at  that  time 
the  recognized  head  of  the  Dutch  in  New  York ; 
and  he  it  was  who  formed  the  chief  fupport  of  John 
Peter  Zenger,  the  popular  printer  of  that  day, 
during  the  tedious  perfecution  for  libel  to  which  he 
was  fubje6led  by  the  Government. 

The  perfonal  hiftory  of  this  noted  printer — the 
fecond  of  the  great  political  centres  around  which  the 
mafs  of  the  Colonifts  in  New  York  cluttered  in  the 
earlier  days  of  the  Revolution — is  not  unworthy  of 
notice  by  thofe  who  would  know  the  earlier  political 
hiftory  of  this  State. 

A  native  of  Germany,  where  he  was  born  in 
1697,  he  was  deprived  of  his  father  at  an  early  age; 
and  when  the  French  perfecuted  the  Palatines  with 
fuch  feverity  that  the  heart  of  the  Queen  of  Great 
Britain  was  touched  with  fympathy,  fhe  refcued 
many  of  them,  furnifhed  homes  for  them  in  New 
York  and  others  of  her  colonies  in  America,  and 
fent  young  Zenger,  with  his  widowed  mother,  his 
fifter,  and  his  young  brother,  to  this  city.^  Strangers 
in  a  ftrange  land,  this  unproteded  family  depended 
on  the  bounty  of  the  Sovereign  for  fupport,  in  part, 
if  not  entirely ;  and  on  the  twenty-fixth  of  Oftober, 
1 7 10,  the  public  authorities  of  the  city,  by  the  Hon. 
Rip  Van  Dam  and  Doctor  Staats,  apprenticed  the 
eldeft  fon,  a  lad  of  thirteen  years,  to  William  Brad- 
ford, the  public  printer,  to  learn  the  art  and  myftery 


'  Lift  of  Palatines  remaining  at  New  York,  1710;  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Cal- 
LAGHAN,  in  note  to  Colonial  Documents^  vi.,  80. 


Hifiory  of  New  York.  25 

of  that  profefTion/  He  ferved  his  mafter  with  fidel- 
ity during  four  years,  pafTing  through  all  the  various 
grades  within  "  the  chapel "  (in  the  phrafeology  of 
the  printers)  ;  and  when  his  time  of  fervice  had 
expired,  he  was  received  into  the  bufinefs  as  a  partner 
with  his  former  mafter."-^  He  fubfequently  embarked 
in  bufinefs  in  this  city  on  his  own  account ;  and  on 
the  eleventh  of  September,  1722,  he  was  married,  in 
the  old  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  Garden  Street — 
now    Exchange   Place — to   Anna   Catharina    Man- 

LIN.^ 

In  the  autumn  of  1733,  he  eftablifhed  the  fecond 
newfpaper  in  the  Colony — "The  New  York  Weekly 
"Journal,  containing  the  frejheft  advices^  foreign  and 
"  domeftic  "  ^ — which  very  foon  afterward  became  the 
acknowledged  organ  of  the  popular  party  in  this 
city  and  vicinity.  The  active  pens  of  Chief-Juftice 
Morris,  and  James  Alexander,  and  William 
Smith,  Senior,  were  among  thofe  which  furnifhed  the 
"leaders"  for  this  journal;  and  the  weight  of  their 
blows  crufhed  the  harnefs  of  the  Government,  and 
efliablifhed  the  freedom  of  the  Prefs  in  the  Colony.^ 

Under  thefe  circumftances,  while  the  real  offend- 


'  Names  of  the  Palatine  Children  apprenticed  by  Governor  Hunter, 
1710—1714. 

'^  The  imprint  of  "Bradford  and  Zenger"  on  the  title-page  of 
"  Klagte  Hjan  Eeinge  Leeden  der  Nederduytfe  Her^ormde  Kerk,  nxjoonede 
op  Raretans,  &€.,"  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  Society's  Library. 

'  Record  of  Marriages  in  the  Collegiate  R.  D.  Church,  New  York 
City. 

*  The  file  of  the  paper,  in  the  Library  of  the  Society;  Thomas's 
Hiftory  of  Printing. 

*  Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  36. 


26  'The  Early  Political 

ers  were  protected  by  their  mafk,  the  weight  of  the 
official  indignation  fell  on  the  printer;  and  his  papers 
were  ordered  to  be  burned  by  the  public  executioner,^ 
while  he  himfelf  was  arrefted  on  a  charge  of  libel,  and 
committed  to  prifon.^ 

The  arbitrary  erafure  of  the  names  of  his  counfel 
from  the  rolls  of  the  Court ;  ^  his  able  defence,  by 
Andrew  Hamilton,  of  Philadelphia;'*  his  triumph- 
ant acquittal  by  a  jury  of  the  Colony ;  the  exulta- 
tion of  the  great  body  of  the  Colonifts,  led  by  the 
Corporation  of  the  City  of  New  York ;  ^  the  effed: 
of  that  acquittal  on  the  freedom  of  the  Colonial 
Prefs ;  ^  and  its  ultimate  confequences  in  the  eftab- 
lifhment  of  the  Independence  of  the  Colonies  and 
of  the  political  rights  of  mankind,  have  been  here- 
tofore fet  forth  in  your  hearing  by  one  of  your 
aflbciates,  and  I  need  not  here  recapitulate  all  the 
details. '^ 

The  important   confequences    refulting   from    the 


*  Minute.s  of  the  Provincial  Council,  November  2,  1734;  Smith's 
Hiftory  of  New  York,  ii.,  15. 

^  DuNLAP's  Hiftory  of  New  York,  i.,  300;  Smith's  Hiftory  of  New 
York,  ii.,  17. 

^  Smith's  Hiftory  of  New  York,  ii.,  19,  20;  Dunlap's  Hiftory  of 
New  York,  i.,  300. 

*  Trial  of  John  Peter  Zenger  (Edit.  London,  1752);  Smith's  Hif- 
tory of  New  York,  ii.,  21,  22. 

^  Proceedings  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
quoted  by  Mr.  Dawson  in  The  Sons  of  Liberty  in  Ne-iv  York,  36-38. 

•^  Smith's  Hiftory  of  New  York,  ii.,  23  ;  Dawson's  Sons  of  Lib- 
erty, 39. 

'  The  paper  entitled  "  The  Sons  of  Liberty  in  Ne-iv  York^""  read  before 
the  Society  on  the  3d  of  May,  1859,  by  Mr.  Henry  B.  Dawson,  of 
Morrifania,  N.  Y. 


Hijlory  of  New  York.  I'j 

acquittal  of  John  Peter  Zenger,  and  its  great  influ- 
ence on  the  Early  Political  Hiftory  of  New  York, 
and  on  that  of  the  United  States,  prompts  me,  how- 
ever, to  prefent  a  brief  fketch  of  this  remarkable 
Trial  for  Libel ;  and  I  do  fo  the  more  willingly, 
becaufe  I  have  reafon  to  believe  that  it  will  be  accept- 
able to  many  of  the  members,  whofe  purfuits  prevent 
them  from  making  the  inveftigations  requifite  to  a 
proper  appreciation  of  fome  of  the  minute  particulars 
which  form  the  material  portion  of  this  noted  cafe, 
and  are  among  the  charaderifliic  features  aflbciated 
with  this  narrative,  prefenting  an  effect  quite  dra- 
matic. 

It  is  reported  of  the  fecond  of  my  predeceffors  in 
the  Prefidential  chair — Gouverneur  Morris — that 
"  inllead  of  dating  American  liberty  from  the  Stamp 
"Ad:,  he  traced  it  to  the  perfecution  of  Peter  Zen- 
"  ger,  becaufe  that  event  revealed  the  philofophy  of 
"  freedom  both  of  thought  and  fpeech,  as  an  inborn 
"human  right,  fo  nobly  fet  forth  in  Milton's  Trea- 
"  tife  on  Unlicenfed  Printing."  ^ 

Mr.  Zenger  iffued  the  firft  number  of  his  Weekly 
Journal  on  the  fifth  of  November,  1733  ;  and  it 
immediately  arrefted  the  attention  of  the  Colonial 
authorities  by  the  appearance  in  its  columns  of  a 
feries  of  fevere  animadverfions  on  the  meafures  of 
the  Government,  as  has  been  already  {lated. 

In  the  following  January,  Chief-Juftice  De  Lan- 
CEY  called  the  attention  of  the  Grand  Jury  to  the 
alleged    Libel  which   it   contained ;    but  no    Bill  was 


'  Tuckerman's  "  America  and  her  Commentators,"  7,  note. 


28  T^he  Early  Political 

found  by  that  body.  Again,  in  the  latter  part  of 
Od:ober,  the  Chief-Juftice  renewed  the  attempt  to 
arreft  Zenger's  opposition;  but  once  more  the  Jury 
refufed  to  return  a  Bill. 

On  the  feventeenth  of  06tober,  1734,  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Province  took  the  fubjed  into  confidera- 
tion,  the  refult  of  which  was  the  appointment  by 
that  body  of  a  Committee  to  confer  with  a  fimilar 
Committee  to  be  appointed  by  the  AfTembly,  and 
"  to  examine  and  enquire  into  the  faid  Papers,  and 
**  the  Authors  and  Writers  thereof." 

In  conformity  with  the  requeft  of  the  Council, 
the  Houfe  appointed,  on  the  fame  day,  a  Committee  of 
Conference  ;  and  on  the  enfuing  evening  the  Com- 
mittees met  and  difcuffed  the  fubjed-matter  which  had 
been  referred  to  them.  The  Conference  clofed  with 
a  formal  requeft,  in  writing,  on  behalf  of  the  Coun- 
cil, that  the  AfTembly  fhould  concur  with  that  body 
in  declaring  that  Numbers  7,  47,  48,  and  49  of 
Zenger's  Paper  contained  Libels  on  the  Govern- 
ment, and  ihould  be  burned  by  the  common  Hang- 
man ;  that  a  reward  fhould  be  offered  for  the  difcov- 
ery  of  the  authors  of  the  obnoxious  articles  ;  that  an 
Order  fhould  be  iffued  for  the  profecution  of  the 
Printer;  and  that  a  fimilar  Order  fhould  be  ifTued  to 
the  Magiftrates  to  exert  themfelves  in  the  execution 
of  their  Of^ces,  in  order  to  preferve  the  public  peace 
of  the  Colony.  This  requeft  was  reported  to  the 
AfTembly ;  but,  on  the  twenty-fecond  of  Odlober, 
1734,  that  body  ordered  the  papers  and  requeft  to 
be  laid  on  the  Table ;  and,  a  fecond  time,  the  pur- 
pofes  of  the  Government  were  fruftrated. 


Hijiory  of  New  Tork.  29 

On  the  fecond  of  November  following  the  Coun- 
cil iffued  an  Order,  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
AfTembly,  directing  that  the  papers  referred  to  be 
publicly  burned  by  the  common  Hangman  ;  and  it 
ordered,  alfo,  "  that  the  Mayor  and  Magistrates  of 
"  this  city  do  attend  at  the  burning  the  feveral 
"  Papers  or  Journals  aforefaid,  numbered  as  above 
"  mentioned." 

To  this  Order  of  the  Council  the  Mayor  and 
Magiftrates,  affembled  in  Quarter  Seffions,  refponded 
by  forbidding  the  entry  of  it  on  their  Books — fome 
of  them  threatening  to  enter  their  Proteft  againft  it 
fhould  the  entry  be  made  on  the  Records. 

Four  days  later,  the  Sheriff  formally  moved  the 
Court  to  comply  with  the  Order  referred  to,  when  a 
Proteft  was  read  with  the  approbation  of  all  the 
Aldermen  ;  but  it  was  not  entered,  becaufe  that 
would  demand  the  entry  of  the  Order  of  the  Council 
— a  paper  which  the  Magiftrates  would  not  recognize 
even  to  the  extent  of  entering  it  on  their  Minutes. 
At  the  fame  time  the  public  executioner,  who  was  an 
officer  of  the  Corporation,  was  not  authorized  to 
execute  the  Order ;  and  the  papers  were  burned  by  a 
negro-flave,  the  property  of  the  Sheriff",  in  the  pref- 
ence  of  the  Recorder,  Mr.  Dumbar,  and  fome  of  the 
officers  of  the  garrifon. 

The  Council  alfo  iffiied  an  Order  to  the  Sheriff" 
commanding  him  to  arreft  Mr.  Zenger  for  printing 
and  publiffiing  the  feveral  libellous  papers  to  which 
reference  has  been  made  ;  and  on  Sunday,  the  feven- 
teenth  of  November,  he  was  arrefted  and  committed 
to  prifon. 


30  The  Early  Political 

A  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  was  iffued,  in  order 
to  fecure  either  his  difcharge  or  his  liberation  on 
Bail ;  and  on  the  twentieth  of  November,  when  the 
Return  was  prefented  to  the  Court,  Meffrs.  James 
Alexander  and  William  Smith,  Sr.,  excepted  to  it. 

Thefe  exceptions  were  argued  in  the  "  presence 
"of  fome  hundreds  of  the  Inhabitants,"  when  the 
Prifoner's  Counfel  infifted  that  he  might  be  admitted 
to  reafonable  Bail,  citing  Magna  Charia,  The  Petition 
of  Right  (3  Carolus)  ;  The  Habeas  Corpus  Atl  of 
32  Carolus  II.;  2  Hawkins,  Chap.  15,  Sec.  5; 
The  Caje  of  the  Seven  Bifhops,  Temp.  Jacobus  II., 
in  fupport  of  their  motion.  The  Council  for  the 
Crown  oppofed  with  fome  warmth,  which  was  re- 
fented  by  the  audience ;  but  an  order  was  entered 
admitting  him  to  Bail,  himfelf  in  £400,  and  two 
fureties  in  ,£200  each,  the  prifoner  to  ftand  commit- 
ted in  the  meanwhile. 

At  the  term  of  January,  1735,  the  Grand  Jury 
again  refufed  to  return  a  Bill  againft  the  Prifoner  ; 
but  the  Attorney-General  immediately  filed  an  Infor- 
mation againft  him,  and  on  that  he  was  arraigned. 

The  Prifoner's  Counfel  offered  Exceptions  to  this 
Information,  but  not  until  the  April  Term  of  the 
Court  could  thofe  Exceptions  be  perfedled;  and  on  the 
fifteenth  of  that  month  Exceptions  were  alfo  offered  to 
the  commifTion  of  each  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court, 
becaufe.  First,  They  were  granted  during  Pleajure  of 
the  Government  inftead  of  during  good  behaviour  of  the 
Judge ;  Second,  The  extent  of  authority  granted  was 
greater  than  warranted  by  Law;  Third,  The  form 
of  the  CommifTion  was   not  warranted  by  the  Com- 


Hifiory  of  New  York.  31 

mon  Law,  or  any  Statute  of  England,  or  any  Ad:  of 
the  AfTembly  of  the  Colony;  and  Fourth,  That  the 
Commiffion  was  granted  by  Governor  Cosby,  without 
the  Advice  and  Confent  of  the  Council ;  and  a  motion 
was  offered  that  thefe  Exceptions  fhould  be  filed.  On 
the  following  day  (April  fixteenth),  when  the  Prifon- 
er's  Counfel  appeared  to  argue  the  Exceptions  which 
had  been  filed  on  the  preceding  day,  Chief-Juftice 
De  Lancey  informed  them  "  that  the  Court  would 
"  neither  hear  them  nor  allow  the  Exceptions  ;  for," 
faid  he,  "  you  thought  to  have  gained  a  great  deal  of 
"  applaufe  and  popularity  by  oppofing  this  Court, 
"  as  you  did  the  Court  of  Exchequer  ;  but  you  have 
"  brought  it  to  this  point,  that  either  we  muft  go 
"  from  the  Bench  or  you  from  the  Bar ; "  and  an 
Order  was  made  excluding  them  "  from  any  farther 
"  Pradice  in  this  Court,  and  that  their  names  be 
"  ftruck  out  of  the  Roll  of  Attornies  of  this  Court." 

Having  thus  difrobed  the  Prifoner's  Counfel,  the 
Court  affigned  John  Chambers,  Efq.,  to  conduct  the 
defence ;  but  fome  of  Zenger's  friends  privately 
engaged  the  venerable  Andrew  Hamilton,  of  Phila- 
delphia— one  of  the  moil  able  members  of  the  Colo- 
nial Bar — to  appear  and  defend  the  Prifoner  before 
the  Jury. 

On  the  fourth  of  Auguft,  1735,  the  Court  aflem- 
bled  for  the  trial  of  the  Prifoner ;  and  the  moft 
intenfe  intereft  prevailed  throughout  the  city. 

The  Attorney-General  opened  the  Information 
with  a  few  remarks  on  the  fubjedl  of  Libels,  and 
their  mifchievous  effects ;  and  he  was  followed  by 
Mr.    Chambers,   who    fet    forth    the    charader   of   a 


32  'The  Early  Political 

Libel ;  the  great  allowance  which  ought  to  be  made 
for  what  men  fpeak  or  write ;  the  neceffity  that  fome 
particular  perfon  fhould  be  pointed  out  in  the  matter 
complained  of;  and  his  confidence  that  the  Attorney- 
General  would  fail  in  his  proof  to  eftablifh  the  latter 
point. 

When  Mr.  Chambers  had  concluded,  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton arofe  and  informed  the  Court  of  his  retainer 
to  affift  in  the  defence  of  the  Prifoner ;  and  at  the 
fame  time  he  admitted  the  publication  of  the  alleged 
libel  by  the  Prifoner,  and  maintained  his  right  to 
do  fo. 

The  witnefles  who  had  been  fummoned  by  the 
Crown  to  prove  the  publication  were  immediately 
difcharged ;  and  the  Attorney-General  affumed  that 
a  Verdid:  muft  be  given  for  the  King,  of  courfe ; 
"  for,  fuppofing  the  obnoxious  articles  were  true,  the 
"  Law  fays  that  they  are  not  the  lefs  libellous  for  that; 
"  nay,  indeed,  the  Law  fays  their  being  true  is  an 
"  aggravation  of  the  Crime." 

To  this  Mr.  Hamilton  objeded,  infifting  that 
the  words  complained  of  "  muft  be  libellous — that  is. 
"/^//>,  Jcandalous^  and  Jeditious^  or  elfe  the  Prifoner 
"was  not  guilty." 

The  Attorney-General  proceeded  to  argue  for  the 
Crown,  on  the  reverence  which  was  due  to  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  that,  inafmuch  as  it  proteded  Life,  Reli- 
gion, and  Property,  care  fhould  be  taken  to  proted 
it  from  fcandal ;  and  that  Libels  on  the  Government 
had  often  been  punifhed ;  in  fupport  of  which  he 
cited  5  Coke,  125;  Wood's  Inftitutes^  430;  ^  Lilly, 
168;    I   Hawkins,   73,    11,   6.      He  infifted  that  the 


Hijlory  of  New  York.  •^•^^ 

Libel  was  a  malicious  defamation  of  another,  for 
which,  in  every  cafe,  punifhment  is  due,  but  efpe- 
cially  fo  if  the  Government  is  the  objed: ;  that  it  is 
the  fame  whether  the  matter  is  true  or  falfe ;  that  it 
was  equally  fo  by  the  Law  of  God,  in  fupport  of 
which  he  cited  Atls  xxiii.  5,  2  Peter  ii.  10;  that  the 
Prifoner  had  fcandalized  the  Governor  of  the  Colony, 
as  well  as  the  Council  and  the  Aflembly,  and  that  it 
was  necelTary  to  punifh  him. 

Mr.  Chambers  followed  in  behalf  of  the  Prifoner, 
obferving  "with  great  ftrength  of  Reafon,  on  Mr. 
"Attorney's  Defed;  of  proof  that  the  Papers  in  the 
"Information  'wg.vq  falfe,  malicious,  or  Jeditious,  which 
"was  incumbent  on  him  to  prove  to  the  Jury,  and 
"  without  which  they  could  not  on  their  oath  fay  that 
"  they  were  fo,  as  charged^ 

The  Defence  clofed  with  an  elaborate  and  power- 
ful argument  by  Mr.  Hamilton,  in  which  he  contro- 
verted, with  great  ability,  the  points  taken  for  the 
Crown  —  denying  "that  the  juft  complaints  of  a 
"number  of  men  who  fuffer  under  a  bad  ADMIN- 
"ISTRATION  is  libelling  that  ADMINISTRA- 
"TION;"  that  the  decifions  of  ^^  that  terrible 
Court"  which  the  Attorney-General  had  cited  were 
Precedents  to  them ;  and  that  the  Governor  was 
"  vefted  with  all  the  prerogatives  belonging  to  the 
"  facred  perfon  of  his  Prince,"  as  had  been  main- 
tained. He  denied  that  decifions  concerning  Libels 
againft  the  King  were  applicable  to  offences  againft 
the  Governor  of  New  York  ;  and  that  the  Laws  of 
England  were  not  neceffarily  applicable  to  the  cafes 
of   the   Colonifts    in    America.      He    infifted    that   a 


34  'Th^  Early  Political 

Libel  is  fuch  only  when  the  words  are  Jcandalous, 
/editions^  falfe,  and  tending  to  dijquiet  the  People;  and 
he  ojfFered  to  admit  the  charge,  if  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral would  prove  the  words  complained  of  were 
falje — he  even  offered  to  prove  that  they  were  true^ 
which  the  Chief-Juftice  would  not  allow  him  to  do. 
He  infifled  on  his  right  to  fubm.it  the  Truth  in  evi 
dence  upon  an  Information  for  Libel;  and  he  con- 
tended with  the  Chief-Juftice  on  the  queftion  of  the 
origin  of  that  proceeding — maintaining  that  "  it  was 
"  a  child,  if  not  born,  yet  nurfed  up  and  brought  to 
"  full  maturity  in  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber." 

He  maintained  that  "the  Faljehood  makes  the 
"  Scandal^  and  both  make  the  Libel  ; "  and  he  in- 
quired, "How  fhall  it  be  known  whether  the  words 
"  are  Libellous — that  is,  true  or  falJe,  by  admitting 
"  proof  of  their  truth — fince  the  Attorney-General 
"would  not  undertake  to  prove  them  falJe  ?  " 

The  Court  refufed  to  receive  teftimony  on  this 
point;  when  Mr.  Hamilton  turned  to  the  Jury, 
and  appealed  to  it  as  witnejfes  of  the  truth  of  the  fatis 
which  he  had  offered  to  prove,  and  been  denied  the  liberty 
to  dofo. 

This  ftartling  manoeuvre  appears  to  have  alarmed 
the  Court ;  and  the  Attorney-General  and  the  Chief- 
Juftice  infifted  that  the  Jury  might  find  that  Zenger 
had  publiftied  the  obnoxious  words,  and  leave  the 
queftion  of  their  charader — whether  they  were  or 
were  not  libellous — for  the  decifion  of  the  Court ; 
but  Mr.  Hamilton  replied  that  the  Jury  might  alfo 
do  otherwife,  as  it  poffeffed  the  right  to  determine  on 
both  the  Law  and  the  Fad. 


Hiftory  of  New  York,  35 

At  great  length,  in  the  fame  fpirit,  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton argued  for  the  Prifoner ;  and  at  the  conclufion 
of  his  remarks  the  Chief-Juftice  charged  the  Jury 
"that,  as  the  Fads  or  Words  in  the  Information  are 
"  confefled,  the  only  thing  that  could  come  in  quef- 
"  tion  was,  whether  the  Words  as  fet  forth  in  the 
"  Information  make  a  Libel ;  and  that,"  he  remarked, 
"was  a  matter  of  Law,  no  doubt,  and  which  it  might 
"  leave  to  the  Court,"  reading  at  the  fame  time,  for 
the  inftruftion  of  the  Jurors,  the  opinion  of  Chief- 
Juftice  Holt  in  the  cafe  of  Tutchin. 

This  celebrated  cafe,  which  occurred  in  the  year 
1704,  and  in  which  the  great  legal  abilities  of  Chief- 
Juftice  Holt  were  difplayed,  is  fo  little  known,  and 
the  work  which  contains  it^  is  fo  generally  inaccef- 
fible,  that  I  cannot  forbear  the  citation,  for  your 
confideration,  of  that  portion  of  the  Judge's  charge 
which  bears  on  the  cafe  of.  Zenger. 

The  learned  Chief-Juftice,  after  referring  to  the 
publication  entitled  "  The  Objervator"  addrefled  the 
Jury  as  follows  : 

"  So  that,  now  you  have  heard  this  evidence,  you 
"are  to  confider  whether  you  are  fatisfied  that  Mr. 
"Tutchin  is  guilty  of  writing,  compofing,  and 
"  publiftiing  thefe  libels.  They  fay  they  are  innocent 
"  papers,  and  no  libels ;  and  they  fay  nothing  is  a 
"  libel  but  what  reflects  upon  fome  particular  perfon. 
"  But  this  is  a  very  ftrange  docflrine,  to  fay  it  is  not 
"  a  libel  refleding  on  the  Government,  endeavoring 
"  to  poftefs  the  people  that  the  Government  is  mal- 


*  Howell's  State  Trials,  xiv.,  1095. 


^6  The  Early  Political 

"  adminiftered  by  corrupt  perfons  that  are  employed 
"  in  fuch  or  fuch  ftations,  either  in  the  navy  or  army. 
.  "  To  fay  that  corrupt  officers  are  appointed  to 
"  adminifter  affairs,  is  certainly  a  refleftion  on  the 
"Government.  If  people  fhould  not  be  called  to 
"  account  for  poffeffing  the  people  with  an  ill  opinion 
"  of  the  Government,  no  Government  can  fubfift. 
"  For  it  is  very  neceffary  for  all  Governments  that 
"  the  people  fhould  have  a  good  opinion  of  it.  And 
"  nothing  can  be  worfe  to  any  Government,  than  to 
"  endeavor  to  procure  animofities  as  to  the  man- 
"  agement  of  it  ;  this  has  been  always  looked  upon 
"  as  a  crime,  and  no  Government  can  be  fafe  without 
"  it  be  punifhed. 

"  Now  you  are  to  confider,  whether  thefe  words 
"  I  have  read  to  you  do  not  tend  to  beget  an  ill 
"  opinion  of  the  adminiftration  of  the  Government. 
"  To  tell  us,  that  thofe  that  are  employed  know 
"  nothing  of  the  matter,  and  thofe  that  do  know  are 
"  not  employed.  Men  are  not  adapted  to  offices, 
"  but  offices  to  men,  out  of  a  particular  regard  to 
"their  interefts,  and  not  to  their  fitnefs  for  the  place; 
"  this  is  the  purport  of  thefe  papers. 

"  Now  they,  on  his  behalf,  infift  on  thefe  things  : 
"  First,  they  fay  you  do  not  prove  any  crime  in 
"  London.  Indeed,  it  is  not  proved  that  he  writ 
"  them  in  London ;  but  the  queftion  is,  whether 
"  there  is  not  proof  of  the  compofing  and  publica- 
"  tion  in  London  ?  There  is  proof  that  they  were 
"  fent  to  Mr.  How  in  order  to  print  them  in  Lon- 
"  don.  Now,  whether  he  received  them  from  him  in 
"  London  or  no   (but  fuppofe  out  of  London),  yet 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  37 

"  if  he  received  them  to  print  them  in  London,  that 
"is  a  publication  in  London.  If  they  fcruple  that 
"matter,  it  fhould  be  fpecially  found.  If  they  were 
"  delivered  to  be  printed  at  London,  I  muft  leave  it 
"  to  your  confideration  whether  you  will  not  find  him 
"  guilty  of  publifliing  them  in  London.  They  were 
"  fome  of  them  printed  in  Fenchurch  Street,  and 
"others  in  Gracechurch  Street.  He  knew  where  the 
"  printer  lived ;  the  contrad;  was  made,  and  he  was 
"  paid  for  them. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  muft  leave  it  to  you  :  if  you  are 
"  fatisfied  that  he  is  guilty  of  compofing  and  publifh- 
"  ing  thefe  papers  at  London,  you  are  to  find  him 
"  guilty." 

Chief-Juftice  De  Lancey,  having  fubmitted  to 
the  Jury  this  opinion  of  one  of  the  moft  learned  of 
England's  Judges,  as  declaratory  of  the  law  applica- 
ble to  this  "  Information,"  they  thereupon  retired. 

The  Jury  were  abfent  only  "  a  fmall  time,"  and, 
on  returning  into  Court,  rendered  a  verdid  of  '•'■Not 
^^  Guilty,"  amidft  the  huzzas  of  the  affembled  People.^ 
This  triumph  of  Right,  of  Juftice,  and  of  Freedom, 
was  one  of  thofe  elementary  caufes 

"  Which  in  their 
Seeds,  and  weak  beginnings,  lie  intreafured. 
Such  things  become  the  hatch  and  brood  of  time." 

The  key-note  of  this  vidory  enkindled  in  the 
popular  heart  and  mind  afpirations  which  found  a 
louder   tone    in    the    next  generation,   when   incipient 

Trial  of  John  Peter  Zenger  (Edit.  London,  1752). 


3  8  The  Early  Political 

meafures  "  looking  to  Independence  '  were  firft 
broached  in  this  city ;  a  tone  which,  in  1776, 
fwelled  into  ever-memorable  grandeur  on  the  day 
that  *'  The  Unanimous  Declaration  of  the  Thirteen 
"  United  States  of  America,"  in  Congrefs  aflembled, 
was  folemnly  publifhed.     Then  it  was  that 

" Freedom,  from  her  mountain  height, 

Unfurl'd  her  ftandard  to  the  air  j 
She  tore  the  azure  robe  of  night, 
And  fet  the  ftars  of  glory  there  !  " 
***** 
"  Forever  float  that  ftandard  fheet ! 

Where  breathes  the  foe  but  falls  before  us  ? 
With  Freedom's  foil  beneath  our  feet, 

And  Freedom's  banner  floating  o'er  us ! "  ' 

A  few  months  after  the  termination  of  the  perfe- 
cution  of  John  Peter  Zenger,  and  his  restoration 
to  his  bufinefs  and  his  family,  the  Colony  was  ftartled 
by  the  death  of  Governor  Cosby,  and  by  the  rival 
claims  of  Rip  Van  Dam  and  George  Clarke  to 
the  right  of  fuccelTion  in  the  Government — the  narra- 
tive of  which  has  neceffarily  arrefted  the  attention  of 
ftudents  of  the  Early  Political  Hiftory  of  New  York. 

I  hope  I  may  be  excufed  for  prefenting,  at  this 
time  and  place,  the  following  brief  fketch  of  the  life 
and  chara6ter  of  Mr.  Van  Dam,  the  venerable  and 
influential  leader  of  the  popular  party  within  the 
Colony ;  as  the  Paper  heretofore  read  by  me  before 
the  Society  on  the  fubjed:  was  defigned  as  introduc- 

'  "  The  American  Flag,"  by  Drake  (the  clofing  verfe  by  Halleck). 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  39 

tory  to,  rather  than  as  a  menioir  of,  this  diftinguifhed 
man,  and  of  the  times  of  which  I  am  now  fpeaking. 

A  member  of  a  widely-known  and  influential  fam- 
ily at  Albany,  where  he  was  born,^  probably  while 
that  city  was  yet  a  dependency  of  the  Dutch,  Rip 
Van  Dam  appears  to  have  fought  his  fortune  in  the 
city  of  New  York  at  an  early  age.  On  the  four- 
teenth of  September,  1684,  he  was  married,  in  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  this  city,  to  Sara  Van- 
DERSPEiGLE,  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  baker  ;^  and 
the  occafion  has  been  noticed  as  one  of  the  notable 
events  of  that  period.'^  Of  this  marriage,  feven  chil- 
dren were  born — Maria,  Sara,  Nicholaes,  Maria, 
Catharine,  Rip,  and  Margaretta* — five  of  whom 
are  faid  to  have  furvived  him. 

He  appears  to  have  been  engaged  in  trade  at  an 
early  day  ;  and  it  is  faid  that  he  not  unfrequently 
commanded  in  perfon  his  good  floop  Catharine,  in 
her  trips  to  the  Weft  Indies." 

In  his  youth,  in  common  with  other  members  of 
his  family  at  Albany,  he  was  decidedly  confervative 
in  his  political  fentiments ;  ^  but  while  the  Earl  of 
Bellomont  was  Governor,  with  Colonel  Bayard  and 
feveral  other   prominent  Anti-Leiflerians,   he   joined 


'  Record  of  Marriages,  Collegiate  R.  D.  Church,  New  York. 

=  Ibid. 

^  Valentine's  Manual,  1862,  774,  775. 

*  Record  of  Baptifms,  Collegiate  R.  D.  Church,  New  York. 

^  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan,  in  Colonial  Documents  of  Neav  York,  vi., 
158,  note. 

"  He  was  the  candidate  of  the  Anti-Leiilerian  party  for  the  office  of 
Alderman,  in  1699.  [Earl  of  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  April  27, 
1699.)     Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan,  as  above. 


40  T^he  Early  Political 

the  oppofition,  and  thenceforth  was  one  of  the  lead- 
ers of  the  popular  party.^ 

In  the  fpring  of  1699,  the  Leiflerian  party  in  the 
city  of  New  York  contended  with  the  Government 
for  the  control  of  the  municipality ;  and  it  polled 
four  hundred  and  fifty-five  votes  againft  one  hundred 
and  feventy-feven  for  its  opponents." 

The  Earl  of  Bellomont,  in  one  of-  his  defpatches 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  referred  flightingly  to  the 
fuccefsful  candidates  in  thefe  words:  "And  the  reft 
"  of  the  fadion  as  an  artifice  to  draw  all  the  Englifti 
"  to  vote  for  their  friends,  call'd  themfelves  the 
"  Englifh  party,  but  what  is  obfervable  and  very 
"  rediculous  befides  is,  that  three  of  the  four  Can- 
"  didates  they  fet  up  were  as  meer  Dutch  as  any  are 
"  in  this  town.  Alderman  Wenham  was  the  only 
"  Englifhman  of  'em,  the  other  three  were  Johan- 
"  NEs  Van  Kipp,  Rip  Van  Dam,  and  Jacobus  Van 
"Courtland;  the  names  fpeak  Dutch,  and  the  men 
"  fcarce  fpeak  Englifti." 

In  this  connexion  it  will  not  be  irrelevant,  I 
truft,  to  contraft  the  following  incidents  with  the 
above  official  comment  concerning  Mr.  Van  Dam's 
nationality  and  that  of  his  two  friends,  and  their 
alleged  incapacity  to  difcharge  their  public  duties, 
,    from  inability  to  "fpeak  Englifti"  corredly. 

While  it  is  very  evident  from  the  defpatch  in 
queftion,  that  his  Lordftiip  had  not  drunk  very 
deeply  at  the  well  of  "pure   Englifti  undefiled,"  not- 


'  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan,  as  above. 

^  The  Earl  of  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  April  27,  1699. 


Hifiory  of  New  Tork.  41 

withftanding  his  apparent  fondnefs  for  criticifm,  it 
may  be  well  to  refer  to  the  experience,  on  a  fimilar 
fubjedl,  of  Hugh,  the  fourth  Earl  of  Marchmont,  a 
diftinguifhed  Scotch  peer,  who  was  born  in  1708  and 
died  in  1794 — the  friend  and  executor  of  Pope. 

BoswELL,  in  his  "Life  of  Johnson,"  tells  us  that 
he  had  recommended  to  his  countrymen  to  imitate 
the  pronunciation  of  the  Earl,  which  was  fo  perfed 
as  to  conceal  his  Scottifh  accent.  The  Earl,  how- 
ever, furnifhes  this  "comment"  on  his  fpeech,  as 
recorded  by  himfelf : 

He  had  called  at  a  fhop  in  London,  where  he 
was  not  known.  In  the  courfe  of  their  converfation, 
the  fhopkeeper  faid  to  him :  "  I  fuppofe.  Sir,  you 
"are  an  American."  "Why  fo?"  afked  his  Lord- 
fbip.  "  Becaufe,  Sir,"  replied  the  mafter  of  the  fhop, 
"you  fpeak  neither  Englifh  nor  Scotch,  but  fome- 
"  thing  different  from  both ;  which,  I  conclude,  is 
"  the  language  of  America."  ^ 

Even  Edmund  Burke,  the  fcholar  and  ftatefman 
— one  of  the  moft  eloquent  men  of  his  time — is  faid 
to  have  "retained  to  the  laft  more  of  the  Irifh  accent 
"  than  was  agreeable  to  lefs  indulgent  ears,"  even 
of  thofe  who  liftened  to  his  impaffioned  fpeeches  in 
Parliament,  or  who,  in  the  focial  circle,  were  de- 
lighted with  his  converfational  powers  and  the  ex- 
uberant flow  of  his  "wit  and  wifdom."" 

It  is  alfo  recorded  that  Dodor  Johnson,  while 
engaged    in   the    compilation    of  his    Di5fionary,   was 


'  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  iii.,  190. 
"  Ibid.,  189,  note. 


42  The  Early  Political 

told  by  the  celebrated  Lord  Chesterfield,  who  was 
of  Iri/h  defcent,  that  the  word  great  fhould  be  pro- 
nounced fo  as  to  rhyme  "with.  Ji ate ;  while  Sir  Wil- 
liam YoNGE  (Sir  Robert  Walpole's  Secretary  at 
War)  infifted  that  it  fhould  rhyme  with  feat,  and 
remarked  "that  none  but  an  Irifhman  would  pro- 
"  nounce  it  grait^  ^ 

Now,  here  were  two  men  of  the  higheft  rank,  the 
one  the  beft  Speaker  of  the  Houfe  of  Lords,  the 
other  the  beft  Speaker  of  the  Houfe  of  Commons, 
differing  entirely  in  the  proper  pronunciation  of  one 
of  the  moft  fimple  words  in  our  language. 

Under  the  circumftances,  the  fagacious  and  up- 
right Van  Dam  might  reafonably  have  been  fpared 
the  official  contumely  of  his  political  opponents, 
becaufe  of  his  imperfect  pronunciation  of  the  Englifh 
language  ;  and  his  Lordfhip  might  alfo  have  fpared 
his  party  from  the  cenfure  which  juftly  followed  an 
invidious  prejudice  againft  thefe  public-fpirited  indi- 
viduals, whofe  fole  offence  was  their  perfonal  influ- 
ence with  their  fellow-citizens. 

Whether  as  a  confervative  or  as  a  member  of  the 
oppofition,  Mr.  Van  Dam  never  loft  fight  of  his 
duty  as  a  citizen,  and  he  was  conftantly  alive  to  the 
beft  interefts  of  the  city  and  the  Province. 

Thus,  in  March,  1700,  he  united  with  Nicholas 
Bayard,  Robert  Watts,  Elie  Boudinote,  Ste- 
phen De  Lancey,  J.  Van  Courtland,  Barent 
Schuyler,  Joseph  Billop,  Adolphus  Phillipsen, 
and  others,  "  Merchants  of  New  York  in  America," 

'  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  iii.,  191. 


Hiftory  of  New  York.  43 

in  praying  the  King  to  feparate  the  Government  of 
New  England  from  that  of  New  York,  in  confe- 
quence  of  the  "  many  and  great  inconveniences 
"which  dayly  happened,"  to  the  detriment  of  trade, 
the  retarding  of  juftice,  and  the  difcouragement  of 
induftry  in  every  portion  of  the  Province.^  In 
December,  1701,  he  united  with  the  Proteflants  of 
this  Province  in  petitioning  the  King  for  a  redrefs 
of  grievances  to  which  they  had  been  fubjecfted  by  the 
Provincial  Government;^  and  in  February,  171 1, 
with  all  the  leading  Merchants  of  the  city,  he  prayed 
for  the  iffue  of  orders  reftraining  the  employment  of 
men-of-v/ar  in  the  carrying  trade  between  the  Colo- 
nies and  the  Weft  Indies  —  a  practice  which  had 
proved  injurious  to  the  buiinefs  of  thofe  who  were 
engaged  in  that  trade.^ 

It  is  faid,  alfo,  that  Mr.  Van  Dam  was  engaged 
with  James  Mills  in  the  bufinefs  of  fhipbuilding ; 
and  that  their  shipyard  was  on  the  North  River,  in 
front  of  Trinity  Church^ — the  front  of  which,  at 
that  day,  was  at  its  weftern  extremity.  It  is  not 
known,  however,  to  what  extent  this  branch  of  his 
bufinefs  was  carried. 

On  the  arrival  of  Lord  Cornbury,  in  1702,  he 
found  the   Province  in  the  greateft  diforder,  in  confe- 

'  Petition  of  fundry  Merchants  of  New  York  to  the  King,  March, 
1700. 

-  Petition  of  the  Proteftants  of  New  York  to  the  King,  December  30, 
1701. 

'  Petition  of  feveral  Merchants  of  New  York  to  the  Queen,  February 
20,  1 71 1. 

*  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan,  in  Colonial  Documents  of  Ne^w  Tork,  vi., 
158,  note. 


44  '^he  Early  Political 

quence  of  the  ftrong  partifan  feelings  in  which  the 
Colonifts  had  indulged,  and  the  violent  meafures  to 
which  the  leaders  of  the  feveral  parties  had  reforted 
either  to  fecure  or  to  maintain  the  political  fuprem- 
acy.^  The  oppofition,  or  popular  party,  among  whom 
Van  Dam  was  prominent,  fecured  the  victory ;  and 
in  June,  1702,  the  Governor  fufpended  from  office, 
as  members  of  the  Council,  Chief-Juftice  Atwood, 
Colledor  Weaver,  Colonel  Abraham  De  Peyster, 
and  others ;  and  appointed  Mr.  Van  Dam  and  his 
friends  to  tKe  vacant  feats  ^ — a  change  which  was 
approved  by  the  Oueen  in  Council,  on  the  twenty- 
firft  of  January,   1703.^ 

Mr.  Van  Dam  continued  to  occupy  a  feat  in  the 
Council  of  the  Province  until  the  firft  of  July,  173 1, 
when,  in  confequence  of  the  death  of  Governor 
MoNTGOMERiE,  as  fcnior  Councillor,  he  became 
Prefident  of  that  body,  and  ex  officio  Afting  Gov- 
ernor of  the   Province.* 

The  public  fervice  requiring  a  provifion  for  the 
fupport  of  the  military  poft  at  Ofwego,  and  for  the 
defence  of  Albany,  Prefident  Van  Dam  called  the 
Affembly  together,  in  Auguft,  1731;^   when  various 


*  Lord  CoRNBURY  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  May  3  and  18,  and  June 
16,  1702. 

^  Lord  CoRNBURY  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  June  16,  1702;  Minutes 
of  the  Queen  in  Council,  January  21,  1703. 

'  Minutes  of  the  Queen  in  Council,  January  21,  1703. 

^  Prefident  Van  Dam  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  July  i  and  September 
II,  1731  ;  Smith's  Hiftory  of  New  York,  i.,  245. 

^  Journals  of  the  Affembly;  Prefident  Van  Dam  to  the  Duke  of  New- 
caftle,  September  11,  1731.  The  fame  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  September 
II  and  November  2,  1731. 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  45 

meafures  befides  thofe  referred  to  were  aded  on  and 
approved  by  him.^ 

During  his  adminiftration  of  the  Government  of 
the  Colony,  Prefident  Van  Dam  refifted  the  attempts 
which  were  made  to  eftablifh  Courts  of  Chancery 
within  the  Colony,  as  Governor  Montgomerie  had 
refifted  them ;  and,  like  that  officer,  he  fteadily  re- 
fufed  to  take  the  oath  of  office  as  Chancellor,  not- 
withftanding  its  evil  effed  on  the  revenue  of  the 
Colony  and  the  pofitive  Inftrudions  of  the  Home 
Government  to  the  contrary.^  As  no  other  Court 
poflefTed  authority  to  compel  the  payment  of  quit- 
rents,  or  to  adjudicate  contefted  titles,  it  will  be  feen 
that  this  omiffion  on  the  part  of  Prefident  Van  Dam 
to  carry  out  the  Inftructions  of  the  Miniftry  was  at 
once  a  ferious  blow  to  the  authority  and  the  interefts 
of  the  Crown  within  the  Colony ;  and  it  was  evi- 
dently a  meafure  which  required  the  greateft  boldnefs 
in  its  conception  and  the  moft  unbending  decifion  of 
charader  in  its  execution. 

On  the  firft  of  Auguft,  1732,  Prefident  Van  Dam 
was  fuperfeded  by  Governor  Cosby  ;^  and  imme- 
diately afterward  all  the  bitternefs  of  feeling  which 
had  remained  dormant  during  feveral  years,  broke 
'out  with  redoubled  fury.  Governor  Cosby  appears 
to  have  thrown  himfelf  entirely  into  the  hands  of 
thofe  who  had  been  in  the  minority  during  the  pre- 


'  Prefident  Van  Dam  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  November  2,  1731,  with 
lilt  of  the  A£ls  referred  to. 

^  Lords  of  Trade  to  Prefident  Van  Dam,  February  4,  1732. 

'  Lords  of  Trade  to  Prefident  Van  Dam,  February  4,  1732;  Smith's 
Hiftory  of  New  York,  i.,  248. 


46  I'he  Early  Political 

ceding  adminiftration ;  and  the  Colony  was  fpeedily 
the  fcene  of  the  greateft  excitement. 

The  Governor,  among  other  extraordinary  mea- 
fures,  demanded  one  half  the  fees  which  Prefident 
Van  Dam  had  colleded  during  his  adminiftration  of 
the  Government ;  and  for  its  recovery  he  inftituted 
a  fuit,  by  way  of  Information,  in  the  Equity  fide  of 
the  Exchequer.  Mr.  Van  Dam  contefted  the  claim ; 
and  as  the  Court  itfelf  was  divided,  party-wife,  on 
the  queftion,  this  meafure  ferved  to  increafe  rather 
than  to  allay  the  popular  excitement.^  The  fubjecft 
was  fubfequently  dropped  by  the  Governor,  and  Mr. 
Van  Dam  retained  the  entire  amount  of  the  fees 
which  he  had  collected  ;  while  the  proceedings  of 
Cosby,  it  is  faid,  "gave  general  difguft." 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1733,  Mr.  Van 
Dam  prefented  charges  to  the  Home  Government 
againft  Governor  Cosby  ;  ^  and  thenceforth  the  former 
became  the  recognized  head  of  the  popular  party  in 
the  Colony,  and  one  of  the  principal  fupporters  of 
John  Peter  Zenger,  in  his  violent  oppofition  to 
the  Government.  So  determined,  indeed,  was  the 
oppofition  of  the  venerable  Van  Dam  and  that  of 
his  friends,  that  the  Governor  alked  permiffion  to 
remove  him  from  the  Provincial  Council;^  and  a 
majority  of  that  body,  feeking  to  expedite  the  move- 


'  Governor  Cosby  to  the  Duke  of  Newcaftle,  May  3,  1733  ;  Smith's 
Hiftory  of  New  York,  ii.,  4-6. 

^  Heads  of  Articles  of  Complaint  to  be  exhibited,  &c.,  December  17, 

1733- 

'^  Governor  Cosby  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  June  19  and  December  6 
and  7,  1734. 


Hijiory  of  New  York,  47 

ment,  refufed  to  fit  with  him  at  the  Board/  In 
Auguft,  1735,  the  Lords  of  Trade  advifed  Queen 
Caroline  ("  Guardian  of  the  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  His  Majefty's  Lieutenant  within  the 
fame"),  to  remove  him  from  office,  agreeably  to  the 
Governor's  requeft ;  ""  but  the  advice  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  noticed  by  Her  Majefty,  and  Mr.  Van 
Dam  was  not  difturbed. 

In  January,  1736,  the  firft  fruits  of  Mr.  Van 
Dam's  charges  againft  the  Governor  were  feen,  in  an 
order  of  the  Privy  Council  which  forbade  the  latter 
from  occupying  a  feat  in  the  Legiflative  Council  of 
the  Province^ — an  abufe  of  his  power  which  had 
formed  the  fifth  and  fixth  Articles  of  the  charges 
which  had  been  prefented  to  the  Home  Government 
againfl:  the  Governor.*  This  order,  fo  important  in 
its  bearings  on  the  party  organizations  in  New  York, 
and  fo  encouraging  to  the  popular  party  in  its 
ftruggle  againfl:  the  meafures  of  the  Provincial  Gov- 
ernment, by  a  fingular  fatality  was  not  produdive 
of  the  benefits  which  had  been  anticipated  from  it. 
Governor  Cosby  did  not  live  to  receive  the  Order; 
and  when  it  reached  New  York,  other  and  more 
exciting  fubjedls  were  occupying  the  attention  of  the 
Colonifl:s. 

Governor  Cosby  departed  this  life  on  the  tenth 


'  Governor  Cosby  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  June  19,  1734,  and  June 
10,  1735. 

'  Lords  of  Trade  to  Queen  Caroline,  Auguft  28,  1735. 

'  Secretary  Popple  to  Governor  Cosby,  January  23,  1736. 

*  Heads  of  Articles  of  Complaint  to  be  exhibited,  &c.,  December  17, 
1733.     Articles  5  and  6. 


48  l^he  Early  Political 

of  March,  1736;^  when  Mr.  Van  Dam,  as  Senior 
Councillor,  prepared  to  aflume  the  authority,  as  he 
had  done  on  the  death  of  Governor  Montgomerie. 
His  call  for  the  Commiffion,  the  Provincial  Seal, 
&c.,  was  met  by  the  remarkable  information  that,  in 
December,  1735,  Governor  Cosby  had  fufpended 
him  from  office — as  Chief-Juftice  Atwood  and  his 
affociates  had  been  fufpended  by  Lord  Cornbury,  to 
make  room  in  the  fame  body  for  him  and  his  affo- 
ciates, more  than  thirty  years  before^ — and  that,  in 
confequence  of  that  fufpenfion,  private  as  it  was,  and 
unnotified  as  were  the  venerable  Councillor  and  his 
friends,  he  poffeffed  no  legal  right  to  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  that  the  authority  belonged  legally  to 
George  Clarke.^ 

Of  the  political  and  perfonal  intrigue  by  means 
of  which  the  popular  leader  was  thus  prevented  from 
exercifing,  a  fecond  time,  the  fupreme  executive  au- 
thority in  the  Colony,  I  cannot  now  fpeak ;  nor  will 
the  time  allow  me  to  do  more  than  allude  to  the 
important  part  which  Mrs.  Cosby — who  was  a  bold 
and  intelligent  politician  in  her  day — is  faid  to  have 
aded  in  this  very  interefting  drama.'* 

That  "  circumflances  alter  cafes "  is  a  maxim 
which  is  recognized  in  every  walk  of  life  and  by  all 
claffes,  needs  no  evidence  ;  and  as  Mr.  Van  Dam 
and  his  party  were  human,  and  poffeffed  the  weaknefs 

*  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  March  16,  1736. 

*  Lord  Cornbury  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  June  16,  1702. 

^  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  March  16,  1736.     The 
fame  to  Horace  Walpole,  on  the  fame  day. 

*  Morris  to  Wager.  May  10,  Oct.  12,  1739.   N.  J.  Hlft.  Coll.  iv.  44,  67. 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  49 

which  Is  an  incident  to  humanity,  it  need  not  be 
wondered  at  that  he  and  his  afTociates  refifted  the 
meafures  which  were  adopted  by  Mr.  Clarke  and 
his  friends.  When  Chief-Juftice  Atwood  and  his 
friends  were  fufpended  from  authority,  in  May, 
1702,  Mr.  Van  Dam  and  his  party  did  not  appear 
to  confider  that  adt  as  an  ufurpation  of  authority  ; 
and,  without  waiting  for  the  confirmation  of  that 
fufpenfion  by  the  Oueen  in  Council,  he  and  they 
took  their  feats  at  the  Board ;  ^  yet,  when  the  fame 
treatment  was  fubfequently  ferved  out  to  them,  he 
and  they  refilled  and  denounced  it  as  an  ufurpa- 
tion. 

Refufing  to  recognize  as  legal  the  fufpenfion  of 
himfelf  from  office,  Mr.  Van  Dam  protefi:ed  againfl: 
the  afliimption  of  authority  by  George  Clarke  ; 
and  he  ferved  copies  of  this  Protefl;  on  the  members 
of  the  Afl'embly.  The  latter  had  afl'embled  for  the 
difcharge  of  their  official  duties,  when  Mr.  Morris 
read  an  "  Addrefs  to  the  Members;"  and  then,  in 
company  with  the  members  of  his  own  party — all  of 
whom  were  alfo  Mr.  Van  Dam's  political  friends — 
he  retired  from  the  Chamber.  As  the  oppofition 
was  in  the  majority,  thofe  who  remained  numbered 
lefs  than  a  quorum  ;    and  they  were  adjourned   by  the 


'  The  Governor  removed  the  Chief-Juftice  and  his  friends  from  their 
offices  as  Councillors  in  May,  1702,  and  their  fucceflbrs — Meftrs.  Van 
Dam  and  others — took  their  feats  in  the  Board  on  the  twentieth  of  October 
following — the  firrt  meeting  of  that  body  after  their  appointment  to  it ; 
while  it  was  not  until  the  twenty-firft  of  January,  1703,  that  the  Queen  in 
Council  confirmed  either  the  removal  of  the  one  party  or  the  appomtment 
of  the  other. 


^o  '^he  Early  Political 

Adling  Governor  without  having  been  called  to  order 
by  the  Speaker/ 

In  September  following,  when  the  Afiembly  was 
again  convened  by  the  Ading  Governor,  the  fame 
queftion  arofe  before  the  Houfe  was  organized;  and 
again  the  Government  was  compelled  to  prorogue  the 
Houfe,  much  to  the  difcredit  of  the  Governor,  before 
the  members  were  called  to  order  by  the  Speaker.^ 

During  the  fame  month  (September,  1736)  the 
difTenfion  appeared  to  threaten  the  moft  ferious  con- 
fequences,  becaufe  each  of  the  two  rival  Govern- 
ments—  Clarke's  and  Van  Dam's  —  proceeded,  in 
due  form,  to  appoint,  as  was  the  duty  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Province,  the  officers  of  the  Corporation 
of  the  City  of  New  York  for  the  enfuing  year — 
Clarke  reappointing  thofe  of  the  former  year ;  Van 
Dam  preferring  fome  of  the  members  of  his  own 
party. 

As  fome  time  elapfed  between  the  date  of  the 
appointment  to  office  and  that  of  the  official  inau- 
guration of  the  appointees,  during  that  period  at 
leaft,  a  new  element  of  difcord  was  introduced,  and 
additional  incentives  to  violence  were  employed.^ 

While  this  twofold  ftrife  was  fiercely  raging,  on 
the   twelfth   of   Odober,    1736,   the   members  of  the 

^  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  May  3,  1736  ;  The  fame  to 
the  Duke  of  Newcaftle,  fame  date;  Adolphe  Philipse  (Speaker  of  the 
Houfe)  to  Prefident  Clarke,  April  29,  1736. 

^  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Duke  of  Newcaftle,  September  18,  1736; 
The  fame  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  September  20,  1736. 

=  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  October  7  and  18,  1736  ; 
Minutes  of  Appointments,  dated  September  29,  1736,  figned  "  RiP  Van 
Dam." 


Hifiory  of  New  York.  51 

Aflembly  again  met  for  the  difcharge  of  their  offi- 
cial duties  ;  but  before  an  organization  could  be 
efFeded,  they  refumed  the  informal  difcuffion  of  Mr. 
Van  Dam's  fufpenfion  and  the  legitimacy  of  Ading 
Governor  Clarke's  adminiftration.  This  difcuffion 
was  continued  with  great  bitternefs  of  feeling  until 
the  afternoon  ;  when,  without  any  organization,  the 
AlTembly  was  prorogued  until  the  following  day.^ 

Thus  toffied  between  the  two — the  Affiembly  and 
the  Corporation  of  the  city — and  inflamed  by  both, 
as  each  became  at  the  moment  mofl:  confpicuous,  the 
Coloniflis  were  excited  as  few  other  communities  have 
ever  been.'^  Fortunately  for  both  parties  ;  fortu- 
nately for  the  city  and  the  Province ;  fortunately,  it 
may  be,  for  the  caufe  of  republican  principles,  at  an 
early  hour  on  the  thirteenth  of  Odober  an  additional 
Inflirudion  from  the  Queen  concerning  the  form  of 
Prayer  to  be  ufed  for  the  Royal  Family  was  received 
by  Clarke — a  circumfl:ance  which  appears  to  have 
been  received  by  all  parties  as  incontrovertible  evi- 
dence that  the  administration  of  Mr.  Clarke  had 
been  recognized  by  the  Home  Government ;  and 
univerfal  quiet  was  immediately  reftored.^ 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  Odober,  fliill  further 
evidence  of  the  decifion  by  the  Miniftry  was  received 
by  Clarke  ;  and  thenceforth  the  peace  of  the  Colony 
on  the  prevailing  quefliions  was  fully  refl:ored.^ 


'  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Duke  of  Newcaftle,  061ober  14,  1736. 
^  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  06tober  18,  1736. 
'  Prefident  Clarke  to  the  Duke  of  Newcaltle,  0(5tober  14,  1736  ;  The 
fame  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  October  18,  1736. 

*  Lieut.-Gov.  Clarke  to  the  Duke  of  NewcalHe,  November  23,  1736. 


52  l!he  Early  Political 

The  extreme  old  age  of  Mr.  Van  Dam,  it  ap- 
pears, thenceforth  prevented  him  from  participating 
perfonally  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  Colony  ; 
although  his  influence  was  doubtlefs  felt  in  all  the 
meafures  of  the  Oppofition,  until  the  day  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  the  tenth  of  June,  1749.^ 

The  reftridied  chara6ter,  in  point  of  time,  of  an 
Addrefs  like  the  prefent,  compels  me  to  fketch  rapidly 
the  more  marked  features  which  my  fubjed:  promi- 
nently prefents.  It  neceffarily  follows,  that  many 
pafl:  and  important  incidents  were  rather  glanced  at 
than  adequately  defcribed.  The  Leiflerian  agitation, 
and  the  brief  but  eventful  adminiftration  of  the  Earl 
of  Bellomont,  are  inftances  in  illufl:ration  of  this. 

In  regard  to  the  latter,  I  have  deferred  the  intro- 
duction of  that  which  follows  in  order  to  avoid 
breaking  in  upon  the  regular  details  connected  with 
the  career  of  Prefident  Van  Dam.  I  now  therefore 
revert  to  a  few  incidents  connected  with  the  late  Earl 
of  Bellomont's  adminiftration.  He  landed  in  New 
York  on  the  fecond  day  of  April,  1696,  and  died  in 
this  city  on  the  fifth  day  of  March,  1701.  He  lived 
to  fee  the  dawn  of  the  century  in  the  laft  quarter  of 
which  the  Englifh  domination,  like  that  of  the  Dutch 
which  it  had  fupplanted,  ceafed  to  exifl.  The  union 
of   the   fifter    Colonies,  by  their  own    a(5l    and   brave 

*  "  Saturday  laft  departed  this  Life,  in  a  very  advanced  Age,  and  was 
"  Yefterday  decently  interred,  the  Honorable  Rip  Van  Dam,  Efq. ;  for- 
"  merly  one  of  the  Gentlemen  of  His  Majefty's  Council  for  this  Province 
"  for  many  Years,  and  fome  time  Prefident  of  that  Board." — l^etv  York 
Gazette,  revived  in  the  Weekly  Pojl-Boy  (Parker's),  No.  334,  [^Monday'] 
June  12,  1749. 


Hipry  of  New  Tork.  S3 

determination,  was  to  convert  them  into  free  and 
independent  Peoples.  The  courfe  of  events  was 
pregnant  with  confequences  prefigured  in  thefe  fug- 
geftive  lines  of  the  great  dramatift  : 

"  There  is  a  hiftory  in  all  men's  lives, 
Figuring  the  nature  of  the  time  deceaf 'd ; 
The  which  obferv'd,  a  man  may  prophefy, 
With  a  near  aim,  of  the  main  chance  of  things 
As  yet  not  come  to  life." 

In  little  more  than  half  a  century  the  compara- 
tively "weak  beginnings,"  the  "feeds  intreafured,"^ 
foftered  by  the  events  of  the  feventeenth  century, 
had  rapidly  fprouted,  flourifhed,  and  a  republic  then 
came  "  to  life." 

Bellomont  was  an  Irifh  Peer,  a  lineal  defcend- 
ant  of  the  Sir  Charles  Coote,  a  soldier  of  fortune 
trained  in  the  wars  of  Elizabeth,  who  was  diftin- 
guished  by  his  ferocity  in  Ireland  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.^  His  ariftocratic  antecedents,  the  dif- 
tindion  which  he  gained  as  a  member  of  the  Englifh 
Houfe  of  Commons,  and  his  early  efpoufal  of  the 
interefts  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  had  recommended 
him  to  the  favorable  notice  of  William  III.,  who 
appointed  him  Governor  of  New  York  and  MafTa- 
chufetts. 

By  Lord  Macaulay  he  is  reprefented  to  have 
been  "a  man  of  eminently  fair  charafter,  upright, 
"courageous,  and  independent.  Before  Bellomont 
"sailed  for  America,  William  fpoke  ftrongly  to  him 

'  Stryker's  American  Quarterly  Regifter,  i.,  434 


54  '^he  Early  Political 

*'  about  the  freebooting,  which  was  the  difgrace  of  the 
"  Colonies,  and  added :  '  I  fend  you,  my  Lord,  to 
*'  *  New  York,  becaufe  an  honeft  and  intrepid  man  is 
"'wanted  to  put  thefe  abufes  down,  and  becaufe  I 
"  '  believe  you  to  be  fuch  a  man.'  "  ^ 

The  courfe  the  Governor  took,  the  objedls  he 
accomplifhed,  the  controverfies  his  adminiftration 
occafioned,  and  the  refults  of  his  meafures,  time  will 
not  now  permit  me  to  difcufs.  The  fubjed  has  been 
in  a  meafure  generally  treated  in  your  prefence ;  and 
it  is  one  which,  in  all  its  bearings,  requires  a  more 
critical  and  thorough  examination  than  it  has  yet 
received. 

In  the  official  Difpatch  in  which  the  Earl  intro- 
duced the  names  of  Van  Dam,  Van  Courtland, 
and  Van  Kipp,  and  characterized  them  as  "  meer 
"Dutch"  who  "  fcarce  fpeak  Englifh,"  his  Lordfhip 
prefents  us  with  an  example  in  himfelf  of  difregard 
of  the  advice  which  in  the  very  next  fentence  he  thus 
communicated  to  the  Lords  of  Trade :  "I  difcour- 
"  age  all  I  can  thefe  diftin6tions  of  Dutch  and  Eng- 
"  lifh  which  is  fet  on  foot  by  the  factious  people  of 
"this  town."  The  admiffion  is  here  unceremonioufly 
made,  either  that  he  was  an  example  of  this  alleged 
prejudice,  or  one  of  these  "factious  people." 

But  the  contrariety  between  this  advice  and  this 
difregard  of  its  precepts  is  probably  attributable  to 
the  ariftocratic  tendencies  which  placed  the  Governor 
unavoidably  in  fituations  at  variance  with  popular 
impulfes,  the  tendency  of  which   was    becoming  more 

^  Macaulay's  Hiftoiy  of  England,  v.,  204. 


Hijlory  of  New  York.  ^^ 

and  more  obfervable,  as  the  current  of  popular 
hopes  and  anticipations  flowed  on  with  greater  vol- 
ume and  rapidity.  Thefe  hopes  were  quickened  when 
the  loud  huzzas  announced  the  triumph  of  John 
Peter  Zenger  ;  and  thefe  anticipations  looked  to 
greater  political  fuccefl^es,  when  the  love  of  freedom 
thereafter  animated  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty." 

It  is  not  within  the  compafs  of  this  Addrefs  to 
analyze  the  views  or  criticize  the  meafures  entertained 
by  Bellomont  in  order  to  fupport  the  alleged  influ- 
ence upon  him  or  his  order  of  a  political  or  inherit- 
able bias  —  the  one  ordinarily  afl^ociated  with  the 
other.  Opinions  but  repeat  themfelves,  under  fimi- 
lar  circumfliances  and  with  fimilar  affinities.  Popular 
developments  deemed  politically  fubverfive  of  ariflio- 
cratic  influences,  have  engendered,  at  all  times,  fecret 
or  avowed  oppofition  to  the  popular  will,  or,  as  in 
this  country,  to  the  fovereignty  of  the  People.  The 
exifting  traitorous  attempt  upon  the  national  life  of 
the  American  Republic  is  an  exemplification  of  thefe 
caufes  and  effeds,  brought  before  our  own  eyes  and 
apparent  to  every  true  lover  and  well-affefted  citizen 
of  our  country. 

This  prejudice  of  his  Lordfliip  feems  largely  to 
be  participated  in  by  a  nobility  in  our  day,  confe- 
quent  upon  the  prefumed  fuccefs  of  our  Republican 
infl:itutions,  which  had  their  rife  in  the  times  of  which 
I  am  now  fpeaking ;  who,  judging  from  exifting 
circumftances,  confider  the  difmemberment  of  the 
United  States  the  fecurity  of  England,  and  the  over- 
throw of  our  Inftitutions  the  prefervation  of  their 
own. 


^6  "The  Early  Political 

Before  leaving  this  interefting  era  of  our  early 
Colonial  hiftory,  I  will  briefly  call  your  attention  to 
a  fingle  incident  fl:ated  at  the  clofe  of  the  above- 
mentioned  Difpatch.  It  refers  to  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  Earl  of  Bellomont  to  procure  the  pafl"age 
by  the  AfTembly  of  "A  Bill  to  enforce  the  building 
"  of  Publick  Workhoufes,  to  employ  the  poor,  and 
"  alfo  vagabonds."  This,  it  appears,  was  oflFered  to 
that  Body,  purfuant  to  an  "  infl:ru(51:ion  from  His 
"  Majefliy ;  "  but  his  Lordfhip  declares  that  the 
AfTembly  Jmiled  at  it,  "  becaufe  indeed  there  is  no 
"  fuch  thing  as  a  beggar  in  this  town  or  country." 
He  further  corroborates  this  by  exprefling  his  own 
belief  that  "  there  is  not  a  richer  populace  any- 
"  where  in  the  King's  Dominions  than  is  in  this 
"  town." 

This  interefling  fad:  has  reference  to  the  fpring  of 
1699.  There  is  no  record  of  the  population  of  the 
city  in  that  year  of  which  I  am  aware.  In  1696  it 
amounted  to  four  thoufand  three  hundred  and  two  ;  ^ 
and  it  is  interefl:ing  to  fl:ate,  in  contrafl:  with  this  fadl, 
that  at  the  clofe  of  1864  it  is  efl:imated  to  have  ex- 
ceeded a  million."  During  this  century  and  a  half 
the  increafe  of  pauperism  kept  pace  with  that  of  the 
population  ;  and  the  number  of  paupers  fupported 
by  the  city  authorities,  at  the  clofe  of  the  year  1864, 
is  fl:ated  to  amount,  in  the  aggregate,  to  fifty-fix 
thoufand   two    hundred    and    twenty-five,^   who   were 

'  Valentine's  Manual  for  1862,  p.  405. 

"^  Official  communication  to  me  from  the  City  Infpeftor's  Department. 
'  Official  ftatement  obligingly  furnlfhed  me  by  the  Commiffioners  of 
Public  Charities  and  Corredion. 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  57 

maintained  at  the  expenditure,  derived  from  city 
taxes,  of  fix  hundred  and  fixty  thoufand  dollars."* 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  large  expendi- 
ture is  applied  exclufively  to  the  deftitute  poor,  fick, 
and  "vagabond"  claffes,  provided  for  by  the  City 
"  Department  of  Charities  and  Corre6lion."  Befides 
all  thefe,  great  numbers  of  both  fexes  and  of  every 
age,  who  are  of  the  "  poor  among  us,"  receive  fhelter, 
food,  and  raiment,  oftentimes  with  religious  teaching 
and  educational  training,  in  inftitutions  founded  by 
charitable  donors,  or  fupported  from  year  to  year  by 
voluntary  contributors,  with  occafional  aid  liberally 
beflowed  by  municipal  and  legiflative  bodies. 

Thefe  are  the  growth  of  Chriftianity  !  The 
^ENIA  of  the  Greeks  and  the  Hospitium  of  the 
Romans  were  of  a  diftindl  character.  Thefe  were 
defigned  by  private  benevolence  with  "  hofpitable 
"intent"  for  individual  wayfarers  and  guefts.  Man, 
among  thefe  ancient  nations,  was  politically  confidered 
as  the  offspring  of  the  State ;  and  in  his  civil  and 
military  relation  to  it,  bound  to  minifter  to  its  fup- 
port.  The  "  Poorhoufes,"  the  "  Workhoufes,"  the 
"Afylums,"  and  the  "Hofpitals"  of  modern  times 
have  their  foundation  refting  upon  the  fympathy  and 
liberality  of  "  him  that  hath "  toward  "  him  who 
"  hath  not."  The  bleffings  difpenfed  in  thefe  fhelters 
for  the  needy,  the  fick,  the  wretched,  and  the  outcaft, 
have  their  origin  in  that  pure  and  undefiled  Religion, 
which  rifes  far  above  all  political  afTociations,  and 
inculcates  thofe  two  cardinal  principles  which  Chrif- 

*  Comptroller's  Office,  City  of  New  York. 


58  '^he  Early  Political 

tianity  primarily  proclaimed,  "  Love  to  God  and  to 
"one's  neighbor;"  imperifhable  in  their  injundions 
as  the  duties  which  they  inculcate. 

From  this  interruption  of  the  prominent  events 
to  which  your  attention  was  chiefly  invited — from  a 
brief  record  fuggefl:ive  of  the  political,  commercial, 
and  focial  relations  indicative  of  the  metropolitan 
reputation  of  New  York,  as  well  as  of  the  cofmo- 
politan  charad;er  of  this  great  mart  of  America — I 
turn  to  refume  the  main  thread  of  this  Addrefs. 

During  the  forty  years  which  intervened  between 
the  efl:ablifhment  of  Prefident  Clarke's  claim  to  the 
Government  of  the  Province  and  the  formal  Declara- 
tion of  American  Independence,  the  contefl:  of  par- 
ties, led,  refpedively,  by  the  De  Lanceys  and  De 
Peysters  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Livingstons 
and  Morrises  on  the  other,  rendered  the  Political 
Hiftory  of  Revolutionary  New  York  not  lefs  inter- 
efting  than  the  period  which  had  preceded  it ;  and 
not  lefs  important  to  the  fliudent  of  Political  Phi- 
losophy. 

With  perfect  Freedom  of  the  Prefs  ;  with  a  Judi- 
ciary holding  its  office  only  "during  good  behavior;" 
with  a  fearlefs  body  of  men,  each  of  whom  was  an 
intellecflual  Giant,  vigilantly  guarding  the  political 
rights  which  fhe  then  pofl"efl"ed,  and  boldly  feizing 
every  paffing  opportunity  to  increafe  the  lift.  New 
York  may  with  the  greateft  juftice  refer  to  that  as 
the  golden  era  of  her  Political  Hiftory. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  much-dreaded 
"Sons  of  Liberty"  fprang  into  being  in  this  city, 
and  not  only   "organized   the   Province"   for  a  i^ii- 


Hijlory  of  New  York.  59 

tematic  oppofition  to  the  Government,  but,  by  open- 
ing and  carrying  on  a  correfpondence  on  the  great 
political  queftions  of  the  day  with  fimilar  bodies  in 
diftant  places,  they  alfo  "  promoted  a  Confederacy."  ^ 
It  was  in  the  earlier  years  of  this  period,  alfo, 
while  Mr.  Van  Dam  was  yet  alive,  that  the  propo- 
fition  of  his  rival,  Lieutenant-Governor  Clarke,  to 
"  eftablifh,  by  a6t  of  Parliament,  duties  upon  ftamp- 
"  papers  and  parchments  in  all  the  Britifh  and  Ame- 
"  rican  Colonys,"  was  condemned  by  the  Royal 
Governor  of  New  York  as  "  dangerous  in  its  con- 
"  fequences  to  His  Majefty's  intereft,"  as  it  was 
fubfequently  proved  to  be  in  the  fame  Colony  when 
the  experiment  was  tried.-^  It  was  during  this  era 
that  the  Affembly  of  the  Province  fteadily  refifted 
and  as  fteadily  repelled  every  attempt  by  the  Colonial 
Council  to  interfere  with  the  provifions  of  money- 
bills,  whether  they  referred  to  the  raifing  of  a  reve- 
nue or  to  the  expenditure  of  it.^  During  the  greater 
part  of  this  eventful  period,  the  Affembly  of  the 
Province  was  reprefented  at  the  Capitol  of  the  nation 
by  an  "Agent"  of  its  own  choice,  over  whom  nei- 
ther the  Council  nor  the  Governor,  nor  even  the 
King  himfelf,  poffeffed  the  leaft  authority ;  ^  and  it  is 


*  Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  40,  41. 

"^  Governor  Clinton  to  the  Duke  of  Newcaftle,  December  13,  1744; 
Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  41,  42. 

*  Sons  of  Liberty,  46-48,  and  the  authorities  there  quoted. 

*  The  praftice  of  appointing  Colonial  '■'■Agents"  was  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  period  referred  to :  the  independence  of  thofe  Agents  iK'as  pecu- 
liarly the  feature  of  the  age  in  queftion.  In  his  So?is  of  Libert-^  (pp.  43, 
44),  Mr.  Dawson  has  brought  together  the  authorities  on  this  i'ubjed, 
and  to  that  pamphlet  the  reader  is  referred. 


6o  'The  Early  Political 

probable  that  it  was  while  Edmund  Burke  was  ading 
as  its  Agent,  that  he  became  fo  intimately  acquainted, 
from  the  Memorials  and  the  official  correfpondence 
of  the  Affembly,  with  the  grievances  of  the  Colo- 
nies ;  with  the  nature  of  their  demands  for  a  redrefs 
of  thofe  grievances ;  and  with  the  natural  and  politi- 
cal rights  of  man,  all  of  which  form  the  bafis  of 
every  political  fyftem.  Refiftance  was  alfo  made 
fuccefsfully,  during  this  period,  to  the  fyftem  of  im- 
preftment  for  the  Navy ;  ^  and,  with  equal  tenacity, 
the  right  of  appeal  to  the  King  from  the  Provincial 
Courts  was  infifted  on.^  The  energetic  oppofition  to 
the  propofed  Stamp  A61  which  was  offered  by  New 
York,  is  too  well  known  to  need  repetition  ;^  and  the 
refiftance  which  was  offered  to  its  execution  in  this  city 
after  its  enactment,  is  one  of  the  moft  notable  and  im- 
portant events  in  its  confequences  in  the  hiftory  of 
our  country/  It  was  alfo  during  this  remarkable  era 
in  the  Early  Political  Hiftory  of  New  York,  that 
this  Colony  not  only  "  organized  a  Province,"  but  it 
alfo  "  promoted  a  Confederacy "  by  the  organization 
of  the  firft  of  thofe  powerful  inftruments  of  revolution 
known  as  "Committees  of  Correspondence" — the 
honor  of  which  has  recently  been  reftored  to  New 
York    by   a   member    of  this    Society    (diftinguifhed 


'  Prefident  Colden  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  Auguft  30,  1760;  Holt's 
New  York  Gazette  and  Weekly  Poft-Boy,  July  12,  1764. 

*  Lieutenant-Governor  Colden  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  November  7, 
1764.;   The  fame  to  Sir  William  Johnson,  December  10,  1764. 

^  DuNLAp's  New  York,  i.,  412-419;  Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  57-89, 
and  the  authorities  cited  in  that  work. 

*  Dunlap's  New  York,  419-423  ;   Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  89-105. 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  6i 

for  the  thoroughnefs  of  his  refearches  among  its 
archives,  the  accuracy  of  his  hiftorical  fads,  and  fidel- 
ity in  their  narration  in  connexion  with  this  invef- 
tigation) — notwithstanding  both  MafTachufetts  and 
Virginia,  each  fuftained  by  her  moft  able  writers,  as 
well  as  by  her  moft  honored  ftatefmen,  had  claimed 
it  each  for  herfelf/  The  protraded  ftruggles  of  the 
popular  party  in  this  city  in  defence  of  the  five  flag- 
ftaffs,  or  "  liberty-poles,"  which  were  fucceffively  cut 
down  by  the  foldiery  ;  '^  the  long-continued  and  un- 
compromifing  conteft  between  the  radical  "  Sons  of 
"Liberty"  and  the  treacherous  Committee  of  One 
Hundred,  and  the  AfTembly  of  the  Province  and  the 
Government ;  ^  the  refolute  oppofition  to  the  tea-tax, 
and  the  deftrudion  of  the  tea,  in  open  day,  which 
was  on  the  '•''London;'''^  and  the  bloody  ftruggle  be- 
tween the  inhabitants  and  the  foldiery  on  Golden 
Hill,  in  this  city,  January  i8,  1770 — the  very  firft 
fight  between  the  Colonifts  in  America  and  their 
military  opprefTors^ — all    occurred  during   this    revo- 


*  Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty  in  Ne-iu  York,  60-64. 

"^  DuNLAP's  New  York,  i.,  433-435;  Leake's  Life  of  General  John 
Lamb,  63-87;  Bancroft's  Hiftory  of  the  United  States;  Dawson's 
Park  and  its  Vicinity,  in  Valentine's  Manual  for  1855,  444-451. 

^  Leake's  Life  of  General  Lamb,  65-187;  Bancroft's  United  States, 
vi.,  365;  Dawson's  Park  and  its  Vicinity  (Valentine's  Manual  for 
1855,  455-461),  and  the  authorities  referred  to  therein. 

*  Leake's  Life  of  General  Lamb,  75-84;  Holt's  New  York  Journal, 
April  21  and  28,  1774;  Gaines's  New  York  Gazette  and  Mercury,  April 
25,  1774;  Hamilton's  Life  of  Hamilton,  i.,  20;  Gordon's  American 
Revolution,  i.,  332-334;  Dawson's  Park  and  its  Vicinity  (Valentine's 
Manual  for  1855,  456-459). 

^  Holt's  New  York  Journal;  Leake's  Life  of  General  Lamb,  55-58  ; 
Dunlap's  New  York,  i.,  437;  Gordon's  American  Revolution,  i.,  300; 
6 


62  T^he  Early  Political 

lutionary  era  of  the  Early  Political  Hiflory  of  New 
York. 

The  different  "Agreements"  of  non-importation, 
&c.,  into  which  the  tradefmen  of  this  city  entered ;  ^ 
the  popular  ftruggle  with  the  Government  and  its 
Confervative  allies  refped:ing  the  ele(5lion  of  Dele- 
gates to  the  Continental  Congrefs  of  1774,^  and  the 
defeat  of  the  latter  and  their  fubfequent  change  of 
policy  in  order  to  fecure  the  control  of  the  delega- 
tion ;  the  infidelity  to  the  popular  caufe  by  the  popu- 
lar Committee  of  Fifty-one,  and  the  condemnation 
of  that  Committee  by  "  The  Great  Meeting  in  the 
"  Fields  "^ — at  which,  it  is  faid,  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton made  his  debut  into  political  life;*  the  feizure  of 
the  Government  ftores  at  Turtle  Bay  by  the  popu- 
lace ;  ^    the   feizure   of    the    arfenal    in    the    old    City 

Bancroft's  Hiftory  of  the  American  Revolution,  vi.,  332;  Davis's 
Sketch  of  the  Old  Bridewell  (Valentine's  Manual  iov  1855,489-491); 
Dawson's  Sons  of  Liberty,  112-117. 

'  The  firil  Agreement  of  the  kind  referred  to,  was  that  entered  into  on 
the  thirty-firft  of  06lober,  1765,  in  which  "the  Merchants  of  the  city  of 
"  New  York,  trading  to  Great  Britain,"  refolved  that  they  would  import 
no  more  goods  from  the  Mother  Country  until  the  Stamp  Aft  fhould  be 
repealed.  (Holt's  Ne-iv  York  Gazette  and  Pojl-Boy,  November  7,  1765; 
Leake's  Life  of  General  Lamb,  14;  Graham's  United  States,  iv.,  224.) 
Other  agreements  of  a  fimilar  character  were  entered  into  from  time  to 
time,  and  all  were  rigidly  enforced  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty. 

''  Minutes  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one;  Correfpondence  of  that 
Committee  and  the  Committee  at  Marriner's  ;  Leake's  Life  of  General 
Lamb,  94. 

^  Leake's  Life  of  General  Lamb,  88-94;  Proceedings  of  Meeting  in 
the  Fields;  DuNLAP's  New  York,  i.,  453;  Dawson's  Park  and  its  Vicin- 
ity, 462-465. 

*  Hamilton's  Life  of  Hamilton,  i. ;  Bancroft's  United  States; 
Dawson's  Park  and  its  Vicinity  (Valentine's  Manual,  464,  465). 

^  Lossing's  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution  (Second  edition),  ii.,  589; 


Hifiory  of  New  Tork.  '  6^ 

Hall;^  the  eftablifhment  of  a  provifional  local  Gov- 
ernment in  this  city;'  the  feizure  of  the  arms  while 
en  route^  under  efcort,  for  Bofton,  while  they  were 
paffing  through  Broad  and  Beaver  Streets,  in  this 
city;^  all  thefe  fubjeds,  and  many  others  which  are 
equally  important,  crowd  the  pages  of  the  Early 
Political  Hiftory  of  New  York  during  its  revolu- 
tionary era,  and  befpeak  the  importance  of  the  truft 
which  has  been  confided  to  this  body  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  State  ;  by  our  predeceflbrs  in  member- 
ftiip  ;  and  by  thofe,  throughout  the  city  and  State, 
by  whom  they  and  we  have  been  cheered  on  in  the 
difcharge  of  this  truft. 

I  might  occupy  your  attention  much  longer  with 
this  branch  of  my  fubjed:;  but  I  will  difmifs  it  with 
an  interefting  allufton  to  a  fingle  incident,  which,  fo 
far  as  I  have  obferved,  has  not  been  noticed  by  any 
who  have  preceded  me. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  among  the  Agents 
which  reprefented  the  Aflembly  of  New  York,  at 
London,  was  Edmund  Burke,  the  able  and  eloquent 
member  of  Parliament  for  Wendover  and  Briftol ; 
and  there  is  little  doubt  that  in  that  capacity  he  was 


Dawson's  Park  and  its  Vicinity  (Valentine's  Manual  for  1855,  470, 
471) ;  Leake's  Life  of  General  Lamb,  105. 

1  Leake's  Life  of  General  Lamb,  ioi,  102;  Gordon's  American 
Revolution,  ii.,  3-16  5  LossiNc's  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution,  ii., 
588;    Dawson's   Park  and  its  Vicinity  (Valentine's   Manual  for   1855, 

471)-  ,    . 

-  Leake's   Life   of   General    Lamb,    1025     Dawson's    Park   and   its 

Vicinity  (Valentine's  Manual  for  1855,  471)- 

•  Willett's    Narrative,    26-32  ;     New   York   during  the    American 

Revolution,  Lossing's  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution,  ii.,  588. 


64  '^he  Early  Political 

made  acquainted  with  the  various  memorials  and 
other  papers  which  that  Affembly  had  tranfmitted 
from  time  to  time  to  the  Parliament  and  to  the 
Miniftry,  in  its  efforts  to  protect  the  focial  and 
political  rights  and  interefts  of  the  Colonifts.  Let 
any  one  read  thofe  Memorials,  efpecially  that  con- 
cerning the  Stamp  A6t,  and  compare  the  fentiments 
which  they  contain  with  thofe  fervid  denunciations 
by  Mr.  Burke  of  the  policy  of  the  Miniftry,  and  he 
muft  be  fatisfied  that  if  thofe  Memorials  had  not 
originated  the  argument  of  the  illuftrious  orator,  they 
at  leaft  ftrengthened  and  confirmed  it. 

Struggling  for  their  rights  as  men  and  as  Englifh- 
men,  the  Affembly  reprefented,  on  one  occafion,^ 
that  "  an  exemption  from  the  burden  of  ungranted, 
involuntary  taxes  muft  be  the  grand  principle  of 
every  free  State.  Without  fuch  a  right  vefted  in 
themfelves,  exclufive  of  all  others,  there  can  be  no 
liberty,  no  happinefs,  no  fecurity :  it  is  infeparable 
from  the  very  idea  of  property ;  for  who  can  call 
that  his  own  which  may  be  taken  away  at  the  plea- 
fure  of  another  ?  And  fo  evidently  does  this 
appear  to  be  the  natural  right  of  mankind,  that 
even  conquered  tributary  States,  though  fubjedl  to 
the  payment  of  a  fixed  periodical  Tribute,  never 
were  reduced  to  fo  abject  and  forlorn  a  condition  as 
to  yield  to  all  the  burdens  which  their  conquerors 
might  at  any  future  time  think  fit  to  impofe.  The 
tribute    paid,    the    debt    was    difcharged ;     and    the 


'  Memorial  of  the  Affembly  of  New  York  to  the  Houfe  of  Commons, 
adopted  by  the  Houfe,  06tober  18,  1764. — [Journals  of  that  date.) 


Hiftory  of  New  York.  6^ 

remainder  they  could  call  their  own.  And  if  con- 
quered vafTals,  upon  the  principle  even  of  natural 
Juftice,  may  claim  a  freedom  from  afTeflments, 
unbounded  and  unafTented  to,  without  which  they 
would  fuftain  the  lofs  of  everything,  and  life  itfelf 
become  intolerable,  with  how  much  propriety  and 
boldnefs  may  we  proceed  to  inform  the  Commons 
of  Great  Britain,  who,  to  their  diftinguifhed  honor, 
have  in  all  ages  afferted  the  liberties  of  mankind, 
that  the  people  of  this  Colony,  infpired  by  the 
genius  of  their  mother  country,  nobly  difdain  the 
thought  of  claiming  that  exemption  as  a  privilege. 
They  found  it  on  a  bafis  more  honorable,  folid, 
and  ftable ;  they  challenge  it,  and  glory  in  it  as 
their  right.  That  right  their  ancestors  enjoyed  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland;  their  defcendants,  re- 
turning to  thofe  kingdoms,  enjoy  it  again  :  and 
that  it  may  be  exercifed  by  His  Majefty's  fubjeds 
at  home,  and  be  juftly  denied  to  thofe  who  fub- 
mitted  to  poverty,  barbarian  wars,  lofs  of  blood, 
lofs  of  money,  perfonal  fatigues,  and  ten  thoufand 
unutterable  hardihips,  to  enlarge  the  trade,  wealth, 
and  dominion  of  the  nation  ;  or  to  fpeak  with  the 
moft  unexceptional  modefty,  that  when  as  fubjedls 
all  have  equal  merit,  a  fatal,  nay,  the  moft  odious 
difcrimination  ftiould  nevertheless  be  made  between 
them ;  no  fophiftry  can  recommend  to  the  fober, 
impartial  decifion  of  common  fenfe." 
Thus  boldly  fpake  the  Aflembly  of  New  York  to 
the  Houfe  of  Commons  ;  and  the  Agent  of  that 
Aflembly  in  the  fame  body,  thus  enforced,  at  a  fubfe- 
quent  date,  the  arguments  which  his   principals   had 


66  The  Early  Political 

previouily  laid  down,  in  the  "  Memorial "  from 
which  I  have  read.  "In  the  chara6ler  of  the  Ameri- 
cans," faid  Mr.  Burke,^  "a  love  of  freedom  is  the 
predominating  feature  which  marks  and  diftin- 
guifhes  the  whole ;  and  as  an  ardent  is  always  a 
jealous  affe6lion,  your  Colonies  become  fufpicious, 
reftive,  and  untraftable,  whenever  they  fee  the  leall 
attempt  to  wreft  from  them  by  force,  or  to  fhuffle 
from  them  by  chicane,  what  they  think  the  only 
advantage  worth  living  for.  This  fierce  fpirit  of 
liberty  is  flronger  in  the  Englifh  Colonies,  proba- 
bly, than  in  any  other  people  of  the  earth ;  and 
this  from  a  great  variety  of  powerful  caufes,  which, 
to  underftand  the  true  temper  of  their  mind  and 
the  direction  which  this  fpirit  takes,  it  will  not  be 
amifs  to  lay  open  fomewhat  more  largely. 

"  Firft.  The  people  of  the  Colonies  are  defcend- 
ants  of  Englifhmen.  England,  Sir,  is  a  nation 
which  ftill,  I  hope,  refpefts,  and  formerly  adored 
her  freedom.  The  Colonifts  emigrated  from  you 
when  this  part  of  your  character  was  mod  predomi- 
nant ;  and  they  took  this  bias  and  dire6i;ion  the 
moment  they  parted  from  your  hands.  They  are 
therefore  not  only  devoted  to  liberty,  but  to  liberty 
according  to  Engli/h  ideas  and  on  Engli/Ji  principles. 
Abftraft  liberty,  like  other  mere  abftradions,  is  not 
to  be  found.  Liberty  inheres  in  fome  fenfible 
objed;  and  every  nation  has  formed  to  itfelf  fome 
favorite  point,  which  by  way  of  eminence  becomes 
the  criterion  of  their  happinefs.      It  happened,  you 

'  Speech  on  Conciliation  with  America. 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  67 

"  know,  Sir,  that  the  great  contefts  for  freedom  in 
"  this  country  were  from  the  earlieft  times  chiefly 
"upon  the  quefliion  of  taxing.  Mod  of  the  contefts 
"in  the  ancient  commonwealths  turned  primarily  on 
"  the  right  of  elediion  of  magiftrates  ;  or  on  the 
"  balance  among  the  feveral  orders  of  the  State. 
"  The  queftion  of  money  was  not  with  them  fo 
"  immediate.  But  in  England  it  was  otherwife.  On 
"  this  point  of  taxes  the  ableft  pens  and  mod  elo- 
"  quent  tongues  have  been  exercifed ;  the  greatefl: 
"  fpirits  have  ad;ed  and  fuffered.  In  order  to  give 
"  the  fuUeft  fatisfadlion  concerning  the  importance  of 
"  this  point,  it  was  not  only  necefl*ary  for  thofe  who 
"  in  argument  defended  the  excellence  of  the  Englifh 
"  Confliitution,  to  infift  on  this  privilege  of  granting 
"  money  as  a  dry  point  of  fad:,  and  to  prove  that  the 
"  right  had  been  acknowledged  in  ancient  parchments 
"  and  blind  ufages  to  refide  in  a  certain  body,  called 
"a  Houfe  of  Commons.  They  went  much  further. 
"  They  attempted  to  prove — and  they  fucceeded — 
"  that  in  theory  it  ought  to  be  Jo,  from  the  particular 
"nature  of  a  Houfe  of  Commons,  as  an  immediate 
"  reprefentative  of  the  people  ;  whether  the  old 
"  records  had  delivered  this  oracle  or  not.  They 
"  took  infinite  pains  to  inculcate,  as  a  fundamental 
"  principle,  that  in  all  monarchies  the  people  mujl  in 
"  effeti  themjelves,  mediately  or  immediately,  poffefs 
"  the  power  of  granting  their  own  tnoney,  or  no  fJiadow 
''''of  liberty  could  Jubfift.  The  Colonies  draw  from  you, 
"  as  with  their  life-blood,  theje  ideas  and  principles. 
"  Their  love  of  liberty,  as  with  you,  is  fixed  and 
"  attached  on  this  fpecific  point  of  taxing.      Liberty 


68  The  Early  Political 

might  be  fafe  or  might  be  endangered  in  twenty 
other  particulars,  without  their  being  much  pleafed 
or  alarmed.  Here  they  felt  its  pulfe  ;  and  as  they 
found  that  beat,  they  thought  themfelves  fick  or 
found.  I  do  not  fay  whether  they  were  right  or 
wrong  in  applying  your  general  arguments  to  their 
own  cafe.  It  is  not  eafy,  indeed,  to  make  a  mo- 
nopoly of  theorems  and  corollaries.  The  fadl  is, 
that  they  did  thus  apply  thofe  general  arguments  ; 
and  your  mode  of  governing  them,  whether  through 
lenity  or  indolence,  through  wifdom  or  miftake, 
confirmed  them  in  the  imagination  that  they,  as 
well  as  you,  had  an  intereft  in  thefe  common  prin- 
ciples." 

I  need  not  refer  to  other  portions  of  Mr.  Burke's 
fpeeches  in  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  to  illuftrate  the 
ufe  which  he  made  of  the  arguments  which  were 
urged  by  the  body  of  which  he  was  the  legally- 
appointed  and  falaried  Agent.  That  which  I  have 
cited  is  entirely  bafed  on  the  arguments  which  I  firft 
read  to  you  ;  and  every  prominent  point  of  the 
argument  of  that  Memorial,  even  where  he  does  not 
wholly  concur  with  the  Affembly,  is  noticed  by  their 
Agent  in  the  fpeech  from  which  I  have  laft  quoted. 

With  thefe  fa6i;s  before  us,  the  intereft  and  impor- 
tance which  attach  to  the  Early  Political  Hiftory  of 
this  State,  and  the  confequent  refponfibility  which 
refts  on  the  Society  to  whofe  foftering  guardianfhip 
it  has  been  efpecially  intrufted,  need  no  further  illuf- 
tration. 

All  that  is  confidered  honorable  in  the  hiftory  of 
this  community ;   all   in   that  hiftory  from  which  we 


Hifiory  of  New  York,  69 

fhould  take  warning,  either  as  men  or  as  citizens ; 
all  that  has  difFufed  glory  around  the  name  and 
efcutcheon  of  New  York,  depend  for  the  very  evi- 
dence of  their  exiftence  on  the  fidelity  with  which 
their  duties  are  difcharged  by  fuch  affociations  as 
this. 

Do  the  defcendants  of  the  Dutch  look  back  with 
honeft  pride  on  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  which 
made  the  New  Netherland  the  home  of  the  op- 
prefled  and  the  refuge  of  the  outcaft — even  thofe 
from  New  England,  who  had  dared  in  that  peculiar 
fanduary  of  freedom  to  poffefs  and  to  exercife  con- 
fciences  which  had  not  been  caft  in  the  Puritanic 
mould  ?^  Do  they  refer,  and  teach  their  children  to 
refer,  to  the  fturdy  refufal  to  yield  their  guaranteed 
rights  as  men  and  as  fubjeds  ?  Do  the  reprefenta- 
tives  of  Bradford  and  of  Zenger,  of  Morris  and 
of  De  Lancey,  of  Van  Dam  and  of  Clarke,  of 
CoLDEN  and  of  Scott,  of  Smith  and  of  Living- 
ston, refer  to  the  noteworthy  deeds  of  their  refpec- 
tive  anceftors  ?  Does  the  zealous  but  lefs  confpicu- 
ous  New  Yorker,  in  behalf  of  his  native  or  adopted 
State,  contend  with  the  equally  zealous  New  Eng- 
lander  for  the  honor  of  priority  in  refifting  the 
aggreffions  of  the  Crown,  and  deny  the  peculiar 
honors  which  have  been  demanded  refpeftively  for 
King-ftreet  and  Lexington  ?  Does  he  join  iffue  with 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  champions  of  Virginia,  or 
with  Mr.  Adams  and  the  champions  of  Maflachu- 
fetts,  when  they  fet  up  the  claims  of  their  refpedive 


*  As  in  the  cafes  of  Roger  Williams  and  Anne  Hutchinson. 


yo  'The  Early  Political 

States  to  the  honor  of  having  originated  and  fet  in 
motion,  and  enjoyed  the  benefits  of,  the  labors  of 
the  firft  two  of  that  "  great  invention "  known  as 
"  Committees  of  Correfpondence  ?  "  Does  he  claim 
for  New  York  the  honor  of  priority  in  refifting  the 
right  of  impreffment  for  the  Navy  ?  Does  he  point 
to  the  Hope  of  Golden  Hill,  and  fay,  "  On  that  fpot, 
"five  years  and  four  months  before  the  Battle  of 
"Lexington  —  two  months  before  the  maflacre  in 
"  King-ftreet  even — was  the  firfi  blood  fhed,  in  con- 
"  Aid:  between  the  Colonifts  and  the  Royal  forces  ?  " 
Whither  can  they  turn  for  evidence,  but  to  the 
archives  of  fuch  aflociations  as  this — to  the  depofi- 
tories  of  the  records  on  which  refts  all  that  has  been 
written,  all  which  can  be  written,  on  the  Political 
Hiftory  of  New  York  ? 

The  events  which  I  have  thus  traced  in  the 
Early  Political  Hiftory  of  New  York  from  their 
commencement  in  the  refolute  refiftance  of  the  Dutch 
in  this  city  to  the  oath  which  Colonel  Nicolls  had 
required  of  them,  until  their  termination  in  the 
eftablifhment  of  the  Independence  of  our  country, 
arrefted  the  attention  of  the  moft  diftinguifhed  ftatef- 
men  of  the  Old  World ;  and,  as  I  have  fhown,  they 
elicited  the  admiration  and  aroufed  the  fympathies, 
if  they  did  not  control  the  political  aftion,  of  one 
of  the  moft  diftinguiftied  of  their  number — Edmund 
Burke,  the  champion  in  the  Britifti  Houfe  of  Com- 
mons of  the  remonftrant  Colonies,  and  the  official 
reprefentative  of  the  AfTembly  of  New  York  near  the 
Britifti  Government. 

In  his  fpeech  on  '■^American  I'axation,"  delivered 


Hijiory  of  New  Tork.  71 

In  1774,  with  powerful  and  perfuafive  eloquence,  he 
advocated  the  political  rights  of  the  Colonies  ;  and, 
in  the  courfe  of  the  debate  on  that  queftion,  he  de- 
clared that  nothing  in  the  hiftory  of  mankind  was 
like  their  progrefs.  "  For  my  own  part,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  I  never  caft  an  eye  on  their  flourifhing 
"commerce  and  their  cultivated  and  commodious 
"life,  but  they  feem  to  me  rather  ancient  nations, 
"grown  to  perfedion  through  a  long  feries  of  fortu- 
"  nate  events  and  a  train  of  succefsful  induftry, 
"accumulating  wealth  in  many  centuries,  than  the 
"  Colonies  of  yefterday ;  than  a  fet  of  miferable  out- 
"  cafls,  a  few  years  ago,  not  fo  much  Jent  as  thrown 
"out  on  the  bleak  and  barren  fhore  of  a  defolate 
"wildernefs,  three  thoufand  miles  from  all  civilized 
"  intercourfe." 

In  the  following  year — 1775  —  in  his  mafterly 
fpeech  on  ^^Conciliation  with  America"  Mr.  Burke 
called  the  attention  of  the  Houfe  of  Commons  to 
the  growth  of  England's  profperity,  which  "  had  hap- 
"pened,"  he  faid,  "within  the  fhort  period  of  the 
"  life  of  man — within  fixty-eight  years  ;  "  and  again, 
with  impaffioned  eloquence,  he  alluded  to  the  greater 
progrefs  in  all  that  conftituted  the  true  greatnefs  of 
the  Britifh  Colonies  in  America.  "  For  inftance,"  he 
exclaimed,  referring  to  the  progreffive  greatnefs  of 
England,  "my  Lord  Bathurst  might  remember  all 
"the  ftages  of  that  progrefs.  He  was,  in  1704,  of 
"  an  age  at  leaft  to  be  made  to  comprehend  fuch 
"things.  He  was  then  old  enough,  '  ada  parentum 
"  'jam  legere  et  quae  fit  poterit  cognofcere  virtus.' 
"  Suppofe,   Sir,"   he   continued,    "  that  the   angel   of 


72  l^he  Early  Political 

"  this  aufpicious  youth,  forefeeing  the  many  virtues 
**  which  made  him  one  of  the  moft  amiable,  as  he  is 
"  one  of  the  moft  fortunate  men  of  his  age,  had 
"  opened  to  him  in  vifion  that  when,  in  the  fourth 
"  generation,  the  third  prince  of  the  houfe  of  Brunf- 
**  wick  had  fat  twelve  years  on  the  throne  of  that 
"  nation  which  was  to  be  made  Great  Britain,  he 
"fhould  fee  his  fon.  Lord  Chancellor  of  England, 
"  turn  back  the  current  of  hereditary  dignity  to  its 
"  fountain,  and  raife  him  to  a  higher  rank  of  peerage, 
"whilft  he  enriched  the  family  with  a  new  one." 
Then,  rifing  with  his  fubjed,  with  matchlefs  elo- 
quence the  orator  proceeded  with  his  more  grateful 
talk  of  portraying  the  greatnefs  of  Colonial  America. 
"If  amidft  thefe  bright  and  happy  fcenes  of  domeftic 
"  honor  and  profperity,"  he  exclaimed,  "  that  Angel 
"  fhould  have  drawn  up  the  curtain  and  unfolded  the 
*'  rifing  glories  of  his  country ;  and  whilft  he  was 
"  gazing  with  admiration  on  the  commercial  grandeur 
**  of  England,  the  Genius  fhould  point  out  to  him  a 
"  little  fpeck,  fcarce  vifible  in  the  mafs  of  the  national 
"  intereft — a  fmall  feminal  principle  rather  than  a 
"  formed  body — and  fhould  tell  him,  '  Young  man, 
" '  there  is  America,  which  at  this  day  ferves  for 
"  '  little  more  than  to  amufe  you  with  ftories  of  fav- 
"  *  age  men  and  uncouth  manners,  yet  fhall,  before 
"  *  you  tafte  death,  fhow  itfelf  equal  to  the  whole  of 
"  *  that  commerce  which  now  attra6ts  the  envy  of  the 
"  *  world.  Whatever  England  has  been  growing  to 
"  *  by  a  progreffive  increafe  of  improvement,  brought 
"  ^  on  by  varieties  of  people,  by  fucceflion  of  civil- 
"  *  izing   conquefts    and    civilizing    fettlements    in    a 


Hifiory  of  New  York.  73 

"  '  feries  of  feventeen  hundred  years,  you  fhall  fee  as 
"  *  much  added  to  her  by  America  in  the  courfe  of  a 
"  '  fingle  life.'  If  this  ftate  of  his  country  had  been 
"  foretold  to  him,  would  it  not  require  all  the  fan- 
"guine  credulity  of  youth  and  all  the  fervid  glow  of 
"  enthufiafm  to  make  him  believe  it  ?  Fortunate 
"  man,  he  has  lived  to  fee  it  !  Fortunate,  indeed,  if 
"  he  lives  to  fee  nothing  that  fhall  vary  the  profped: 
"  and  cloud  the  fetting  of  his  day  !  " 

This  remarkable  "  vifion,"  in  its  glorious  array 
of  brilliant  thoughts,  vigoroufly  and  eloquently  ex- 
prefled,  was  a  portion  of  that  fpeech  in  which  its 
author  enforced  the  duty  of  conciliating  the  Colo- 
nies ;  of  that  fpeech  which  was  faid  to  have  "  teemed 
"  with  important  principles,  adorned  and  enforced 
"with  the  prodigal  illuftrations  of  his  fancy  ;"^  of 
that  fpeech  concerning  which  Mr.  Fox  remarked : 
"  Let  Gentlemen  read  this  fpeech  by  day  and  medi- 
"  tate  upon  it  by  night :  let  them  perufe  it  again  and 
"  again,  ftudy  it,  imprint  it  in  their  hearts — they 
"would  then  learn  that  reprejentation  was  the  fove- 
"  reign  remedy  for  every  evil."  ^ 

As  time  rolled  on,  the  dawn  of  the  prefent  cen- 
tury witneffed  America  ftill  further  advanced  in  her 
progrefs  to  greatnefs.  Severed,  politically,  from  the 
Mother  Country,  the  repofitory  if  not  the  guardian 
of  the  political  and  religious  rights  of  man,  the 
refuge  of  the  perfecuted  and  the  opprelTed  of  the  Old 


'  Summary  of  the  Life  of  Edmund  Burke,  xxviii. 

^  Quoted  by  Mr.  Peter  Burke  in  his  Summary  of  the  Life  o/"  Edmund 
Burke  (p.  xxviii.). 


74  '^he  Early  Political 

World,  fhe  had  demanded  and  afTumed,  "  among  the 
"powers  of  the  earth,  the  feparate  and  equal  ftation 
"  to  which  the  laws  of  Nature  and  of  Nature's  God 
"  entitled  her  ;  "  and  by  her  fword  and  by  her  induf- 
try  fhe  had  eftablifhed  her  right  to  that  place,  and 
rendered  more  apparent  than  ever  before,  the  neceffity 
of  that  wife  precaution  which,  four  years  later,  made 
the  colledlion  and  prefervation  of  the  materials  for 
her  hiftory,  in  fuch  Societies  as  this,  a  duty  which 
fhould  not  be  negled;ed. 

Before  the  firft  half  of  this  century  had  pafTed, 
American  enterprife  and  heroifm  had  carried  the  civil 
authority  of  the  United  States  acrofs  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  eftablifhed  it  on  the  very  fhores  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  Thence,  the  new  States  which 
were  fpeedily  formed  and  became  members  of  the 
Union,  looked  out,  over  the  vaft  expanfe  of  waters, 
upon  the  iflands  of  the  fea,  and  upon  "the  Orient" 
— the  far-off  continent  of  Afia.  From  the  latter, 
and  from  the  iflands — both  obfcured  by  ignorance  and 
fuperftition  and  focial  wickednefs — the  appeal  has 
reached  our  fliores,  as  the  cry  of  the  "  man  of 
"Macedonia"  reached  the  apoftle  ;  and  the  urgent 
demand  for  help — "  Come  over  and  help  us  " — has 
been  refponded  to  from  what  to  them  is  the  Eaftern 
fliore  of  the  New  World — from  the  youthful  repub- 
lic ;  the  miftrefs  of  the  world's  weftern  boundary  ; 
the  very  limit  of  the  "  weftward  march  of  empire." 

And  who  that  confiders  the  retrograde  condition 
of  the  Afiatic  and  African  continents  can  be  infenfible 
to  fuch  a  call  I  The  progreffive  fpirit  of  enterprife 
which  chara(5lerized  our  countrymen  at  the  commence- 


Hijiory  of  New  York.  75 

ment  of  our  exifting  political  difficulties,  had  carried 
the  commerce  of  America  into  every  fea  ;  and  all  the 
great  marts  of  the  world  were  crowded  with  her 
adventurous  fons.  At  the  prefent  day,  notwithftand- 
ing  the  internal  troubles  which  afflict  us,  the  provi- 
dence of  God  continues  to  point  out  to  us  our 
profperity,  and  to  indicate,  in  language  which  cannot 
be  mifunderftood,  our  miffion  among  men — a  miffion 
which  ajfFeds  at  once  their  focial,  their  political,  and 
their  fpiritual  welfare.  From  the  mighty  Weft — the 
infant  Hercules  of  our  political  world — and  from  the 
vaft  territories  bounded  by  the  Rio  Grande,  the  un- 
employed elements  of  national  wealth  and  national 
power  rife  up  and  bear  teftimony  concerning  our  duty 
to  the  benighted  and  the  fettered  nations  of  the  earth, 
and  our  capacity  to  difcharge  it ;  while  the  ceafelefs 
din  of  the  ever-bufy  Eaft,  and  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
the  tide  of  commercial  greatnefs  through  which  the 
wealth  of  the  world  is  poured  into  our  lap,  alike 
point  out  our  fitnefs  for  the  tafk,  our  ability  to  exe- 
cute it,  and  the  criminality  of  our  negledt,  fhould  we 
fail  to  obey. 

Skepticifm  may  doubt  this  !  It  regards  neither 
the  leflx)ns  of  experience  nor  the  "bow  of  promife" 
in  the  future.  Nor  does  it  duly  heed  the  portentous 
events  now  tranfpiring,  the  convulfive  throes  of  a 
great  nation,  the  political  upheaving  among  the  maff- 
es,  the  mighty  focial  difruptions,  or  the  important 
elementary  changes,  which  the  exifting  civil  war  pre- 
fents  in  their  gigantic  and  impreftlve  fignificance. 

But  the  Chriftian's  faith  contemplates  thefe  mo- 
mentous   occurrences  in  their  providential  direction, 


76  1'he  Early  Political  Hiftory  of  New  York. 

as  civilizing  agencies,  produdtive  of  fecial  reforms 
and  eventual  bleffings.  They  are  harbingers  of  the 
day  when  "  the  earth  fhall  be  full  of  the  knowledge 
"  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  fca." 

In  hope,  Faith  fees  the  "Angel  of  Peace"  re-enter 
the  once  happy  homes,  around  whose  hearthftones  are 
gathered  the  mourners  lamenting  the  loved  ones  who 
have  perifhed  in  the  fervice  of  their  country.  While 
gently  clofing  his  wings  to  reft  among  them,  he  lifts 
the  veil  which  difclofes  the  future,  and,  as  they  look, 
they  catch  infpiration  from  the  glories  it  reveals,  and 
rejoice  that  thefe  facrifices  were  not  made  in  vain. 

There  is  a  hope,  however,  "  an  anchor  of  the 
"  foul  both  fure  and  fteadfaft,"  which  animates  the 
Chriftian  patriot  in  his  reflexions  on  the  deftiny  of 
America.  It  imparts  ftrength  to  the  conviction,  that 
whenever  our  country  is  purified  from  the  drofs 
intermingled  with  its  otherwife  free  and  popular  in- 
ftitutions,  by  the  fiery  ordeal  through  which  it  is 
pafling,  it  will  aroufe  itfelf  "  as  a  ftrong  man  to  run 
"  a  race,"  and  ftart  afreili  on  its  Chriftian  career  with 
a  belief  in  that  deftiny,  not  lefs  firm  than  was  the 
deep  and  abiding  faith  of  an  ancient  author,  which  he 
happily  exprefled  in  thefe  few  but  animating  words : 
^^  Otov  -d^bXovTo;,  ^av  tJil  {)i:ioz  'n:}.i-]iZ^  ^rou^jj"^' — 
God  protecting  thee,  though  thou  wert  at  fea  upon 
a  twig,  thou  ftiouldft  be  fafe ! 


*  Thestius,  apud  Theophil.  ad  Autolyc,  lib.  ii,  |  8.  Probably 
a  Greek  proverb — thus  :  Qtov  Sc'Xoi'ror,  k&v  fVt  pinos  nXeon — fuppofed 
from  Pindar.     See  Plutarch's  Moralia,  2,  405,  B. 


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